Skiing
by Sharkey52
Summary: The Lancers and their friends want to meet up now that the four dimensions are getting along (reasonably). What better way to enjoy each others company than through a skiing trip? Now they just had to find a place to do that. And survive a week in each others company. Without Reiji's mitigation. No pressure. (Set in canon, four years after the conclusion of Arc-V)
1. Chapter 1

**I took suggestions from two reviews I got, one recommend I write a multi-chapter story about something that wasn't murder. The other suggested I write about the Lancers on a ski trip. So you got both - a multi-chapter story about the Lancers on a ski-trip.**

 **Like 'This is not Caddyshack', this story in set in canon and in Standard dimension. However, it's also set four years after the storyline of Arc-V, so most of the characters are eighteen or over. Also, for Sawatari's father, he didn't get a name in the original version, so I've borrowed his dub name Curio. He doesn't really appear though - it's just for the sake of having a name for him.**

 **One last thing. I'm going on holiday soon (I'll be visiting all of you in the states so that'll be interesting) but it means I may not update much until I get back home in September, so this one's going to be slow to come out.**

 **Now let the adventure begin!**

* * *

To this day, Sawatari would maintain that it was entirely and utterly Reira's fault.

Well, maybe not _entirely_. Some of the blame had to go to Yuya, who was the first person to suggest that they all needed a break and then joined Serena in an all-out badgering mission against Reiji until the leader of Lancers 2.0 agreed to let them all have the week after New Years off.

In that case, it was partially Reiji's fault as well.

Gongenzaka wasn't exactly innocent either, as he was the one to bemoan the fact that they never got to spend quality time with their friends from other dimensions anymore now they were midway through high school, and had inspired the whole 'group holiday' thing.

Now he thought about it, he wasn't all that happy with Yuzu or Yugo either. After all, it was Yuzu who had mentioned a ski trip she'd taken with her father as a child to Yugo – who didn't know what skiing was and only had a vague idea what snow was – and Yugo had been completely taken with the idea and told everyone about it.

And then suddenly they were all fixated on going on a skiing trip for their so-called 'group holiday', but no one could agree on an affordable destination to accommodate so many people, so he guessed they could all shoulder part of the blame too.

Though if anybody asked, which they wouldn't but Sawatari always had an available excuse ready for battle, he was going to maintain this was all 100% Reira's fault. If only to cover up the fact that he had no one to blame for this but himself.

Well, maybe he could blame Reira a little bit. He was just so…sweet and endearing that Sawatari didn't want to disappoint him. Sawatari was an only child and didn't really associate with people significantly younger than him, and was therefore unaware of the mystical powers a nine-year-old boy could have at his disposal over an eighteen-year-old like Sawatari.

If it had just been a case of Reiji refusing to put up any funds towards the renting of a sizeable ski cabin ("My money goes towards vital research and aid to the people of four different dimensions. So no, you're not getting a penny to so much as use the ski lift from me") then Sawatari wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. It wasn't his problem if the lot of them couldn't figure out how to make a week of skiing happen. Personally, he preferred the beach over winter sports. But then of course Reira had to make that benign (at least, seeming) comment about how he'd never seen snow before as he'd grown up in the desert and was now living in Maiami City and, well, when he put it like that the small scrap of guilt that had survived Sawatari's formative years rose up and nearly strangled him.

And so, like a complete moron, he may have mentioned to the little boy that, actually, his mother had a ski cabin up in the mountains if Reira ever wanted to see snow. But Yuya overheard and somehow the information that the cabin was large enough to accommodate them all reasonably comfortably got out and there was no escape for there on out.

What a genius, I know.

Which had, of course, lead to him making this _delightful_ phone call to a woman he'd all but forgotten about for the past eight years whilst four different people crowded around him with the looks of hungry wolves on their faces, clearly reading 'Do it or die'.

"Hello Mama. It's Shingo. Yes, Curio's son. I know, it's been a while. What, I can't call for no reason?"

The response he got to that question nearly made him slam the phone down into its holder again, but the ravenous wolf population had suddenly increased to six and he really didn't have a choice, did he?

So, with deep restraining breaths, he put his ear to the phone receiver again.

"No Mama. Actually, I was wondering if you were planning to use the lodge after New Years?"

* * *

It was thirty-four-hour drive from Maiami City to Sawatari's cabin split up over three days, and by the end of Day Three, Yuzu was debating the merits of lobotomy via plastic spoon.

It was agreed that a different person would drive every day. It had been previous decided at two drivers a day but by the end of Sawatari's stint at lunchtime of the first day, it was decided it was much more therapeutic to just get it all out the way with in one day. It kinda worked, since out of the eight people packed into the rented Land Rover, only three could drive. Yuzu had taken the second day, so now Yuya was guiding them the last few hundred miles.

The group had been making small talk pretty much since they set off, but the whole thing had mostly degenerated into the ramblings of Yugo. Yuzu was mostly glad he couldn't drive a car since her experiences on the back of his Duel Runner proved that he had road rage of the worst kind. However, by this point, part of her wished he had drove, because that would put an end to the endless rambling that could only be described as 'The musings of Yugo, his achievements in life and impact on society'. Rin had tried to stop him at first, but had eventually given up and zoned out as if he wasn't in the back seat next to her. Sora and Sawatari, sitting either side of Yuzu, had thrown in the towel as well, the former sucking on a mint to balance the three lollipops he'd consumed since they set off from the motel that morning and the latter all but asleep against the window, his head vibrating whenever the Land Rover slowed down. Yuzu was sorely tempted to reach around and slap Yugo into unconsciousness, but Reira had finally stopped fidgeting in her lap and she wasn't about to set him off again. So she bit her tongue and prayed they'd be there soon as Yugo moved on from telling them all about how awesome Jack Atlas was to his long-standing relationship with Rin (the third anniversary of their first kiss was coming up in three weeks, he told them eagerly for the fifth time).

Yuzu couldn't see Yuya in the driver's seat, but she just knew he was getting a headache.

"Sawatari" Gongenzaka called from the passenger seat, waking the aforementioned boy from his light sleep "We need to know whether to turn left or right at this junction."

Sawatari looked out the side window, then out the front window at their surroundings before declaring: "Er…left. It's right at the next turn off, then just go straight ahead. You can't miss it."

"Thanks Sawatari" Yuya spoke up for the first still since they set off (he required total concentration when he drove, especially when the ice had made the mountain roads very slippy) and shot a smile at Sawatari in the rear-view mirror.

"And you're absolutely sure we can all fit?" Yuzu asked Sawatari. It wasn't the first time she'd asked, but she was hyper aware of the fact that a car full of child soldiers, genocide survivors and one single father (Crow had agreed to ride in the second car since piling nine into one Land Rover was just asking for trouble, no matter how small Reira and Sora were) was hurdling up the highway a few hours behind them and if they got there only to discover the cabin was too small, well…

Yuzu didn't want to think about it.

Sawatari rolled in eyes. "For the last time, yes. Most people are going to have to share but I can hardly see that being a problem. When my parents bought the place, the idea was that they wanted to have a place outside of any city where they could entertain as many of their friends as possible. That's what they were like back then. Heck, they haven't exactly changed much, they just do it separately now."

Yuzu frowned, but he would know better than she would. "Alright, I trust you."

Sawatari scoffed. "No you don't. You've been straight up honest about that up until now; I'll give you that. Geez, I spent every winter here until I was ten – I think I know how many people can fit."

Conceding his point, Yuzu looked down at her phone, wondering if Ruri was going to text back before they arrived. Knowing that Reiji had too much work to leave his company for a week right after the Christmas holidays and Tsukikage and his brother couldn't make it (the first week of the new year was special to the Fuma clan, full of celebrations and festivals and the brothers couldn't possibly slip away to enjoy the holiday with them) the remaining eight should be arriving together in the second car. The only problem with that was, out of the eight of them, only Yuri could drive a manual like they'd hired (apparently automatics were favoured in Fusion, Synchro rarely used any cars at all and Xyz had only had a completed rode to drive a car on for the last few months). Which meant that, unless they felt like crashing, only Yuri had been driving since they set off three days ago. Despite this, Yuzu was pleasantly surprised to note only once had Ruri ever indicated via text something was going slightly wrong on the road, so maybe they would all arrive in one piece before dark.

Reira was sat in her lap, the seatbelt stretched over both of them, staring out of the window in excitement. Pine and spruce trees stood like a line of soldiers at the roadside with the peak of the mountain hunched, looming over their tips like a shrivelled grey woman against the metallic white sky. The mountains had afforded them a blanket of pearly white snow upon arrival – a fact that made Rin and Yugo thankful they'd decided not to travel via Duel Runner – reaching three feet deep in places off the road and dusting the trees with snow like icing sugar on a cake. The latest snowstorm was long ago enough that the roads up the mountain were clear, but not the private drive up to the Sawataris' property, so Yuya was driving at an excruciatingly slow pace so as not to slip right off the mountain, despite Sora's jibes and complaints that he was driving a Land Rover, Yuya, it's designed to do this!

They drove the last few miles in silence. Well, relative silence. Yugo was still going but after three days, his blabbing had become all but white noise to the seven others in the vehicle. Eventually, Yuya rounded the last corner and the Sawatari family's cabin became visible behind a bulge of pine trees.

Sora's mouth hinged open and his lollipop fell out and onto the car's carpet.

Halfway through a gush of words about how pretty Rin was, Yugo cut himself off with an exclamation of: "Holy shit!"

No one deemed it necessary to tell him off for swearing in front of a small child because his words were pretty much what they were all thinking.

At least 'lodge' or perhaps 'chalet' would've been a more accurate description than 'cabin'. To prevent them from driving off the edge of the cliff, Sawatari, the only one not in awe, directed Yuya along the drive, around the property to a parking space on the other side of the building where they could gape without putting themselves at risk.

It was large two-story building with multiple balconies on storey number two, made out of light-coloured wood with large windows, allowing the occupants to see up and down the mountainside. As they drove around the back and parked, it became apparent the back of the house was built into the slope of the mountainside, making it appear only one storey tall on that side.

It took some time for everyone to scrape their jaws off the floors off the floor of the car, so it was Sawatari who got out first and retrieved his suitcases from the trailer hitched to the back of the Land Rover. He found it a miracle they were still there. When Yuzu had been driving, he swore he'd seen several suitcases go flying into the air a couple of times, so their safe arrival he could only put down to Yuya's much smoother driving up the mountain.

Seeing Sawatari heading for the house, the seven others unfolded themselves from the Land Rover, the sound of joints creaking echoing through the air as they tried to recover after three days of almost solid driving. Gongenzaka was, by far, the worst affected, being unused to long stints sitting down in one position as he was the only one not used to traveling by car or Duel Runner. He all but hobbled from the car to the house, wading through the snow like a bowlegged duck. Sawatari had just unlocked the door when Yugo scampered in, yelling:

"The biggest bedroom's mine!"

Before Rin could pass Sawatari, he grabbed her elbow with a grimace on his face.

"Can you please try and keep him in line?" he pleaded "I know what he's like, but if he breaks something I'm going to have to apologise to my mama and I really don't want to do that."

His seriousness caught her off guard for a moment, but she relaxed into a smile anyway. "Of course, Sawatari. I have built up many methods to make Yugo behave himself over the years."

Sora covered his ears and gagged. "TMI! TMI!"

Now reassured, Sawatari's face broke into his usual cocky grin. "Well then, please followed the Neo New Sawatari Shingo to your room! I gave you the master bedroom, a suitable suite for the prettiest girl in the abode!"

"I could kill him" Yuzu muttered, watching Sawatari lead Rin and Yugo up the stairs, Yugo insisting he carry her suitcase as well as his with an exclamation of:

"Here, let me carry that! Don't stress yourselves! Sawatari, my man, what did you say about a fitting bedroom?"

"Murdering him in his own house?" Yuya commented jokingly "That's rather harsh."

"I'm more worried about them" Sora remarked glaring at the disappearing Yugo and Rin "I mean, how am I gonna sleep with those two going at it all night?"

"Don't talk slanderous!" Gongenzaka told him "I sure Yugo and Rin will be courteous of the other guests."

Sora snorted with disagreement. "Yeah right. Yugo's incapable of being quiet. There goes sleep for the next week."

Reira peeked out nervously from behind Yuzu before hurrying into a room off the main foyer. This encouraged Yuzu to also explore the rest of the ground floor.

The inside of the lodge was appropriate for a mountain getaway, all white maple-wood with moose and pine-themed decorations of the type one might expect of a mountain cabin. It wasn't extravagant, except in terms of sheer size, but it had clearly been designed and decorated with comfort in mind. Yuzu discovered upon a little looking around that the open floor plan contained a tidy kitchen, a sizable dining room and a large lounge room on the first floor. On the east wall was a large wood-burning fireplace that was surrounded by a well-matched assortment of cushy sofas and large stuffed chairs. Reira had curled up in the chair closest to the corner of the lodge with his teddy bear, affording him a perfect view of the whole ground floor with the exception of the foyer. The room also featured a large flat screen television and a pool table. The view out the window-wall was worthy of a National Geographic magazine.

Yuzu whistled low under her breath. This wasn't the kind of place a middle-class family could afford, especially not just as a seasonal getaway. Sawatari liked to talk about how well off his family – or at least, his father, he didn't talk about his mother much – was, but she had never imagined anything like _this_.

"He is certain all of us are going to fit upstairs, right?" Yuya had followed her, admiring the ground floor also "I mean, this doesn't seem like a large area for so many people to sleep in."

"Small bedrooms, maybe?" Yuzu suggested "I don't know – I trust him, for once. I don't think he'd drag all of us out here without being certain he could house us all."

"Hey, d'ya think that idiot already dished out who was having what room?" Sora poked his head into the room and asked.

"Sora, that idiot is our host" Yuzu reminded him with a stern look.

"I don't think so" Yuya remarked, scratching his head. "I mean, he said something about Yuzu and I sharing but-"

Sora's face broke into a grin and his head disappeared from the doorway. "Dibs on a single room!"

Sora's feet were heard pattering up the stairs. There was a pause before the sound of Gongenzaka's much heavier footsteps followed Sora's up the stairs.

Yuya laughed and even Reira giggled a bit.

Yuzu placed a hand to her forehead and sighed. "Boys."

* * *

It was dark by the time a second car rolled down the driveway of the Sawataris' property. Yuzu was surprised to see them. She expected them all to get arrested or – perhaps more likely – one of the group to snap and kill everyone else. The others had all settled into their own rooms (Sora had won and got a single room. It was agreed Gongenzaka would share with Crow and Kaito, and Reira with Serena. Yuya and Yuzu got one of the largest rooms to themselves whilst Sawatari was staying in his old bedroom) and had been pretty much sitting on their hands waiting for the car or phone call from the police.

In the past few hours, Yuzu had received a few texts from Ruri and one from Serena. Whilst the ones from Ruri were happy and normal and indicated everything was fine, it was the one from Serena that worried her, mentioning a dispute had broken out somewhere along the road. Therefore, everyone heaved a sigh of relief when the second car arrived without any signs of blood decorating the windows.

In the ensuing wait, they gathered in the lounge on the first floor and enjoyed each other's company while they waited. It had been too long since they'd all had a break together and it was refreshing to be able to relax and just hang out together like they had done when they were younger, before the war had changed their lives. Rin beat each and every one of them at pool, which put a self-satisfied swagger in her step for hours, put even more hearts in Yugo's eyes and put Sora in a foul mood. Once the group had officially thrown in the towel and admitted that nobody could beat her, even with Gongenzaka's eye for angles, Reira had broken out the collection of board games he'd brought with him and they all agreed to a rousing round of Snakes and Ladders. They put on Christmas carols in the background, even though it was now January, and with the light snow still falling outside visible through the window wall, it was altogether a festive gathering. Sawatari had even gotten coaxed into making cocoa like his mama had once showed him – the real stuff, not the powdered kind.

Late into the evening, with Reira, Rin and Yugo having already decided to go to bed, they all heard a second car round the property and Yuzu rushed to the door.

"You made it!" she cheered, hugging Ruri as she was the first to the door.

"It's so cold!" Ruri remarked, hugging Yuzu back enthusiastically. She wasn't dressed for the mountains in winter, but in cargo pants and a light t-shirt – something more suitable for travelling in a car with seven other people.

Scratch that – six other people.

Yuzu counted the number of people getting out of the second Land Rover and frowned. "They didn't kill Kaito, did they?"

"What? No!" Ruri laughed like the idea was absurd (it wasn't) "Kaito didn't turn up. It's sad, but we weren't surprised. He lives so far off the grid now, I bet he didn't even get your invitation. I sure he would've loved to come if he'd known."

"Oh thank god, it's over!" Serena proclaimed dramatically as she crossed the threshold.

"It couldn't have been that bad" Yuzu pointed out. No one appeared to have died, so it couldn't have been _that_ traumatic.

"The hell it was!" Serena complained with a sour face "You weren't there!"

Serena could be dramatic, but not _this_ dramatic, which caused Yuzu some concern. She became even more uneasy when Crow, Kurosaki and Yuto came in after her. All three looked like they'd had no sleep during the journey and appeared weighted down by more than just their bags.

"My dear Yuzu!" Dennis greeted her in heavily-accented English, shaking her hand so enthusiastically that Yuzu knew right then and there he was playing an angle. "Nice to see you! How are you?"

"Why are you like this?" Yuzu immediately asked "What did you do?"

She looked past him at Yuri, the last one to approach the house. He was noticeably hanging back, like he was reluctant to enter the warmth of the lodge, which made no sense considering how cold it was outside.

"What did you do to _him_?" Yuzu asked Dennis more pointedly.

Dennis stared at her in either mock-offense or real offense. "Yuzu! I can't believe you would make such unfounded allegations against me without-"

"Oh drop it already!" Serena rolled her eyes, cutting him off "We've all had enough of you!"

Kurosaki and Yuto's eyes quickly directed themselves to the floor. Even Crow, the peacemaker, shifted awkwardly.

"How bad was it?" Yuzu asked, now very alarmed.

"The trip was very pleasant" Ruri insisted, though she appeared to be alone in that thought "Really only except-"

"Hey, you're all here!" Sawatari emerged from the kitchen where he'd been stacking the dishwasher with cocoa mugs "Great! All your rooms should be ready, since Mama called the cleaners ahead of time. Everyone from Xyz is in the room on the right – there's a double bed and the sofa's a pull-out bed, so I'll let you fight over that. Crow, you're sharing with Gongenzaka. Yuri and Dennis have the room dead ahead from the stairs. Serena-"

Serena laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, that won't be happening."

Sawatari blinked at her. "I didn't say anything, did I?"

"What she means," everyone turned to look at Yuri, who'd made it through the door and was standing as far away from the group as possible with a sour look on his face "is that Dennis and I have had a disagreement and wish not to share a room."

The lodge went dead with silence (except for Sora, who was arm-wrestling Gongenzaka in the lounge and loosing with great sound effects). Yuri and Dennis pointedly looked in different directions.

"Except that" Ruri finished "They've been at it since they arrived in Standard."

"You had a disagreement?" Yuya made Yuzu jump when he spoke up from behind her without warning "Was it that bad? I mean, you two are so close."

"Stop talking" Yuri instructed him with clenched teeth "I can feel the waves of idiocy from over here."

Yuzu saw through the insult. Clearly Yuri's feelings were hurt, badly. The normally vibrant Dennis' stoic reaction to it all told her the same. Both had said something to wound the other greatly.

"Er…okay" Sawatari looked between Yuri and Dennis with uncertainty "I…Crow, would you mind-"

"I can share with Yuri" Serena offered, though she didn't sound particularly happy about it "Not like anyone else wants to put up with his ugly mug anyhow."

"That's great, but you were supposed to share with Reira" Sawatari told her, looking between the faces of the small army gathered in his foyer anxiously. Clearly he was worried the awkward tension in the air would cause one of the battle-hardened veterans to snap.

"I'll share with Reira" Crow said "I don't mind. I share a room with three kids at home. And Shinji."

"And Dennis can stay with Noburu" Yuya suggested "You don't mind, right Noburu?"

"Of course not" Gongenzaka called over, having apparently been able to follow the conversation all whilst pinning Sora's arm to the carpet as the younger boy squirmed so as not to admit defeat.

"Well that settles it then!" Yuya declared happily, ever the wannabe peacemaker.

"Ok" Sawatari seemed confused, but reassure enough that his head wasn't on the chopping board anymore. "Well, it's late. You all probably want to get some sleep."

Yuto and Kurosaki sagged with relief. They looked utterly exhausted. If Yuzu had to guess, they'd probably been sleeping in either the same room with or in the room next to Yuri and Dennis' when saying in the motels and the constant bickering had prevented them from getting a good night's sleep.

Quickly, everyone headed upstairs to try and sort out who got which room. Within a few minutes, everyone had settled down and was either unpacking or on their way to bed.

"Well that was dramatic" Yuzu commented as she and Yuya finished brushing their teeth "What sort of 'disagreement' could set them at each other's throats like that?"

"Who knows" Yuya shrugged "We managed to convince a group of war veterans from both sides of the same conflict to go on a ski holiday together – I don't think anyone was expecting _complete_ peacefulness."

Yuzu snorted with a little eye roll. "They could at least _try_ to get along."


	2. Chapter 2

**Should have time to write two more chapters after this before I go on holiday. Enjoy this for now. :)**

* * *

No one in their right minds would describe Shingo Sawatari as an early riser. He liked to get his solid seven(teen) hours every night. In fact, if you were to ask Reiji when he was in an off mood, he would peevishly describe Sawatari as narcoleptic if he didn't get a sufficient amount sleep each night. To counter this curse, Sawatari had a blessed ability to fall asleep anywhere and everywhere, but tended to be cranky and drowsy if by some chance that sleep was inadequate.

Sleeping under a roof belonging to his mother was _not_ a circumstance that would grant him an adequate amount of sleep.

Sawatari suspected it was the smell. The room in the ski lodge where he had spent many a winter holiday during his early childhood still smelled just as it had when he was young. Although his memories of this place were mostly pleasant, it was still vividly reminiscent of a time not long after when his whole family had been a lot less happy.

It was unsettling.

He had spent the night tossing fitfully, dozing off for what might have been minutes or hours at a time before twitching awake. The furnace that heated the lodge seemed to be turned up too high, and he spent half the night kicking his quilt off repeatedly when it got too hot for him to stand it, then yanking it back up when he realized that it wasn't _quite_ warm enough to go forego covers all together. Therefore, he was in a foul mood when he finally gave up the game at what the racing car clock on the nightstand told him was a little after seven in the morning.

Well, if he couldn't sleep, at least he could eat something.

He stumbled down the hallway still dressed in his pyjama bottoms and an old t-shirt, rubbing sleepily at one eye. He perked up a bit at the sound of voices coming from downstairs and descended the stairs to the bottom floor, ears pricked curiously.

Yuzu and Ruri had taken over the kitchen, it appeared, and were midway through preparing what Sawatari thought (hoped) was enough breakfast to feed the small army living at the lodge. They were gossiping the time away idly, swapping topics between favourite music and musicians, and how the reconstruction of Heartland was coming along.

Yuri was also in the kitchen, sat at a small table that Sawatari remembered he used to eat at alone when Mama and Papa were entertaining the guests at dinner. His clothes appeared to be the same as the ones he was wearing yesterday and were rumpled from a lack of correct folding, as if Yuri had thrown them on the floor and left them there all night, which didn't sound like the normally meticulous Yuri at all. He was alternating between nursing a glass of milk and reading a book in what looked like Cyrillic script. Sawatari guessed he'd had just as bad a night's sleep as Sawatari himself had.

"Was it that bad that you can't even stand to be on the same floor as him?" Sawatari was half-mocking, half-serious.

The unimpressed glare levelled at Sawatari over the top of Yuri's book inclined the host to drop the subject quickly.

"You know what, you just do your thing" Sawatari stumbled through his words "I'll be…standing…over here…"

"Perfect timing, Sawatari" Ruri remarked, his comment enough to alert her to his presence in the kitchen "You can start on the bacon for us."

Sawatari's shoulders slumped and his jaw locked. "You mean I have to help? Are you kidding me? I invited _you_."

"Exactly. You can't just invite a bunch of people to _your_ ski mansion and then expect to be waited on" Yuzu pointed out.

She actually had a point, so the only retort he could think of was: "It's not my lodge. It's my mama's."

Yuzu clicked her tongue in irritation. "Just get your lazy butt over here! Ruri's been working at this even longer and she could use some help!"

Letting lose a groan that didn't half portray just how unimpressed he was at his situation, Sawatari slumped across the room to do as he was told.

* * *

The smell of bacon frying awoke most of the lodge and soon everyone – all in different states of dress from pyjamas to fresh clothes to their travelling clothes from yesterday – was seated around the dining room table. It was just big enough to sit them all when they brought the chair from the kitchen's table over for Yuri and dragged an armchair from the lounge over for Reira. Sawatari, Ruri and Yuzu struggled to get all of the food out in time for the sudden increase in waking people and had to enlist Yuri to help when they discovered Ruri had made four different pancakes on top of the plain ones to account for a number of allergies and just picky eaters that Yuzu swore weren't going to be a problem.

The last to arrive were Yuto and Kurosaki. Yuto was fully dressed and dragging Kurosaki, still wearing his pyjamas, who was stumbling along behind him with his eyes still shut. Yuto deposited him in the seat next to Serena, who was tidily bisecting her pancake, before sitting opposite him, next to the cereal-eating Yuya.

"Coffee" Kurosaki groaned, almost like a plea, folding his arms on the table and placing his head on them.

Serena couldn't help but grin. "Hey Yuzu? Could we get some coffee over here? I think the bird's melting."

Kurosaki made some sort of noise in the back of his throat, flopping a hand feebly in Serena's direction as if to aim to smack her on the shoulder. "Shut up. I had to share a bed with Ruri last night."

"So?" Sora raised an eyebrow, clearly having gotten a decent night's sleep himself. It couldn't have anything to do with snoring – he would've heard them from the room next door where he was staying. Not to mention Yuto seemed fine.

"She kicks" was Kurosaki's response "It's been so long. I'd forgotten how much she kicks."

Ruri nearly dropped the plate she was handing to Dennis, which incited laughter around the table if Kurosaki's comment already hadn't. The only one who didn't laugh was Yuri, who was still reading his Cyrillic book, ignoring everyone.

"I know what you mean" Rin offered in sympathy "Sometimes this lug," She gestured at Yugo, who was hoarding a whole plate of bacon "would get nightmares and he'd flail like he was being attacked. Didn't allow for much in the way of sleep."

Yugo muttered something around his mouthful of bacon that probably meant 'No I didn't'.

"Yes you did, honey" Rin countered, patting him on the head like a puppy "Now close your mouth when you eat and make sure you pass the bacon around – it's not just for you. Sawatari was nice enough to make enough for everyone."

She smiled at his simpering gaze that seemed computed to only spout puppies and rainbows in her presence whilst simultaneously bending back her fork to fling a sausage across and down the table at Sora, who was mime-gagging in their direction as she spoke.

"Nice shot!" Dennis remarked, causing Rin to smirk and reminding everyone she'd most definitely grow up in the same orphanage as Yugo.

Presently Sawatari joined the group at the table, having finished the jobs Yuzu had assigned him upon his appearance in the kitchen. He took the empty seat between Yuri and Yuzu, digging into his breakfast with gusto. At his arrival, Crow turned a friendly glare on him.

"So I was doing a little exploring last night before I went to bed" Crow remarked accusingly "Sawatari, you didn't tell us this place has a Jacuzzi!"

"Really?" Sawatari could've sworn he'd mentioned it, but his brain was running on empty at the moment so maybe he hadn't. He swallowed a large bite of pancake and shrugged unconcernedly. "Slipped my mind."

"Aw man, you're kidding!" Sora exclaimed, looking vastly disappointed. "If you'd told me you had a Jacuzzi I'd have brought my swimming trunks!"

"Who needs a swim suit anyway?" Serena suggested "After all, isn't underwear pretty much the same thing?"

Reactions ranged from amused to almost choking.

"Clearly Academia taught you plenty about opposite-sex interaction" Yuto's response was the best received.

"Oh don't be such a gallant knight, Yuto" Dennis mock-chastised him "We're all adults here, right? Well, except for you, little buddy." He patted the head of Reira, who was sat next to him, eating his cornflakes peacefully as he held his teddy bear to his chest with one arm. "We can all deal with a little bit of partial nudity, I think."

"Of course the entertainer is all for stripping and showing off everything to the world" Yuri's tone was contrite, not a hint of humour in there at all "You clearly have no class."

Instantly the mood at the table sombred dramatically, everyone reluctant to speak after that and set the bonfire alight.

"Well, it appears there are more children than just Reira here, doesn't it?" Dennis remarked.

"You know, some of us are trying to have a nice meal" Yuri countered "Your ridiculous babbling is distracting me."

"Well then maybe you should put a paper bag over your bug head" Dennis responded "I can talk to whoever I want about whatever I want."

Yuri remained silent after that and everyone felt a certain nerve get poked.

"So, everyone" Yuya hastily stepped in to be the peacemaker before more shots got fired "What does everyone want to do today, huh? Hit the slopes?"

"Well, not me, that's for sure" Ruri answered "Sawatari, whoever your family had stock the kitchen didn't do a very good job. I'm not sure they knew how many of us were going to be here, because we used up all the milk and most of the eggs just on breakfast this morning, so I was thinking I might go down into town today and pick up some groceries."

Sawatari shook his head. "Nah, you don't have to do that. I can just call the guys in charge of-"

"No, it's fine" Ruri reassured him "I need to go rent ski gear anyway, so I might as well do both things, right?"

Sawatari shrugged. "Fine, whatever works for you."

This touched off a flurry of planning for the day. After an animated discussion on the subject, it was decided that a whole group would drive back down into town to take care of some errands before officially hitting the slopes tomorrow. Gongenzaka, Ruri, Serena, Sora and Yuto immediately volunteered to go into town. Sawatari planned on going as well, even though he had brought his own snow gear and didn't actually need anything, because he knew they would need a driver with an actual license to get them into town without falling off the mountain. Serena volunteered to take charge of Reira for the day and get him the things he would need, leaving Crow free to join Yugo and Rin in scoping out the ski areas upslope and figuring out the best places to start the next day. Yuya and Yuzu planned to stay in the lodge and enjoy the view, since Yuzu had her own snow gear and Sawatari had offered Yuya the use of his father's old ski gear, which was just about the right size for him.

Kurosaki had been planning on joining the group to go into town in order to ensure that his, Ruri and Yuto's gear met his standards, but shortly before they were all to set out, he'd all but fallen down the stairs from fatigue and Yuto insisted he stay behind and get some sleep, Ruri even offering to stay on the pull-out bed for the rest of the trip to help him sleep better. Yuri had enthusiastically claimed Kurosaki's seat in the car once it became clear that Dennis wasn't planning on going.

"Don't you need ski gear as well, Dennis?" Serena asked, surprised he was choosing to stay behind. Wouldn't he get bored?

The ginger-haired boy waved a hand lightly before placing it on the shoulder of Yuya, who was standing right next to him. "Yeah, but I don't feel like going all the way down. Besides – there's already seven of you in the car. No need to make things awkward, right? Yuri knows my sizes."

Yuri slammed the back door of the car shut at that comment, clearly indicating his feelings on the matter. Yuya wouldn't be surprised if Yuri returned with ski gear at least a size too small for Dennis out of spite.

Serena, sitting in the passenger seat, frowned before agreeing. "Alright, fine. But you owe me the rental fee!"

Yuya and Dennis stood in the front doorway and watched the car round the corner of the lodge to head down the mountain to town, Yuya waving to them as they left.

"So, what are you going to do?" Yuya asked Dennis once the car was out of sight "I was going to try out that flat screen I saw in the lounge. Want to join?"

Dennis seemed to think about it, his arms swinging at his sides, before shaking his head. "I have a few cards I'm trying to decide whether to use in my deck or not. Think I'll test them out in my room."

"Alright, suit yourself" Yuya said, heading for the lounge, anxiously watching the stairs as he knew Yuzu was up there on the phone to her dad "There's a duel championship going on in Paris sometime today – I'm going to see if it's started."

"Yuya" Yuya felt all the hairs on his body tense at the sound of the very voice he didn't want to hear calling his name doing exactly that "Don't you have homework to do that's more important than some duel championship?"

"Oh come on, Yuzu!" Yuya whined "I have all holiday to do that! Let me have a break on my first day here!"

"And you were the one who stalled on doing his holiday homework because he insisted on doing it here" Yuzu argued "This is the only time when we're all going to be split up and doing separate things. If you do it now, then you won't miss out on anything we do as a group later."

"But it's the only time someone else isn't going to change the channel halfway through!" Yuya complained.

"Yuya" Yuzu fold her arms and for a second, Yuya believed _she_ was his headmaster rather than her father because she was _much_ scarier "Do your homework."

In a move taught to him by Yuto, Yuya debated the merits of arguing back before calculating they were vastly outweighed by the cons of doing so. So he slumped his shoulders and groaned.

"Fine."

* * *

Yuya did do his homework, but it took him longer than anticipated to do so. It probably didn't help that he'd procrastinated for three or four hours watching the Paris Duel Championship on the flat screen, but the actual chore itself took an ungodly amount of time. Yuya had no idea why his history teacher had set such a task during the holidays when they would all be doing mock exams at the end of the month anyhow, but none the less spent several hours sitting on the sofa with his laptop, writing a report on the history of his designated country (clearly his teacher took one look at his name before putting him on Egypt. Gongenzaka hadn't stopped laughing for a good hour whilst Sora frowned and asked him what an 'Egypt' was) which roughly consisted of the words 'and then stuff happened' and very little else.

Finally reaching the 20th century and almost done, Yuya heard someone sit on the end of the sofa. They didn't speak and Yuya guessed it was either Dennis or Yuzu watching the television which was slightly above mute. He picked up the remote control seated on the arm rest of the sofa and threw it towards the other person, allowing them to turn up the volume.

But the volume didn't rise. Instead, a minute later, he heard the sound of the person at the far end of the sofa moving closer along the edge of the sofa. Yuya ignored them, focusing on how he was supposed to spell Tutankhamun. Maybe his teacher would forgive him for just calling him 'King Tut'.

Another few minutes later, he heard the sound of the person moving closer again.

And again.

And again.

Now they were sitting right next to Yuya, his leg pressed up against theirs.

"Hey, Dennis" Yuya greeted him, though a little creeped out. Why did he take so long to sit next to him? Was he distracted by the television or something? Then why didn't he turn the volume up? "You fix your deck?"

"What? Oh, yeah! Yeah, I fixed it" Dennis nodded "What are doing?"

"Homework" Yuya groaned, any happiness drained out of him by the soul-sapping report "Have to do a report on the history of Egypt." Before Dennis could ask, Yuya added: "It's a country here in Standard."

"Seems like a rather long thing to chronicle – the entire human history of one country" Dennis pointed out.

"That's because my teacher's a sadist" Yuya explained, completely serious "I'm just giving a general overview. Noburu's the teacher's pet – not me. You should see _his_ report. He spent thirty pages on Japan's Edo period alone. His World War Two section's probably going to be a report in itself, detailing the pros and cons of Japan's decision to go to war and its fallout, with transcripts and photos and everything backing his argument up."

"The _Edo_ period?" was all Dennis got from that, smirking amusedly at the joke.

Yuya rolled his eyes. "Yeah, very funny, you can tell Edo that when you go home."

Dennis, still amused, sidled up to Yuya even more, perhaps trying to read his terrible report. Yuya squirmed a bit, feeling slightly uncomfortable as Dennis was all but sitting on his lap by this point, one hand having traversed his back to rest on the junction between his neck and his far shoulder. Dennis could be affectionate, Yuya was aware of that, but this seemed too much, even for him. Was he coming on to him or something? Some sort of hormonal response to his and Yuri's lovers spat? Yuya assumed only girls did that, but Dennis was giving all the indications that was what he was doing, though the guy was clearly aware that Yuya was with Yuzu. Did he just not care? He'd never done this before.

"Yuya, I hear you talking! You better be doing your homework or I'll tell-" Yuya turned his head to see Yuzu standing in the doorway, staring at him and Dennis with a certain look on her face that told Yuya to keep both eyes open for fans.

Automatically, Dennis jumped up, his smirk fading away in a pleasant, boyish smile. "Don't worry, Yuzu. He is doing his homework. He was just explaining to me what an Edo period was. I'll be going now. Bye bye!"

His exit was dramatic, as usual, but also hasty. He also made a point of leaving via the doorway Yuzu wasn't standing in, like he was afraid she may stab him for distracting and sitting too close to Yuya.

"Jeez, what crawled up your butt and died?" Yuya remarked to Yuzu "He was just being friendly."

Not saying anything, Yuzu tossed her hair over her shoulder. Ordinarily he would have been enjoying that she was wearing it down to accommodate her winter hat, but at the moment he was feeling too surly to care.

"Whatever you say" she said as she stormed off and, geez, even her footsteps on the carpet sounded angry.

' _What was that about_?' Yuya thought, his silent comment directed towards both of the lodge's other occupants ' _That was just weird_.'


	3. Chapter 3

**You all have my wonderful new beta CorinnetheAnime to thank for this chapter. Thank you for being my first beta ever and I'm really sorry if my computer's auto-correct messed with any of your editing. I didn't notice it was trying to do that until I tried to upload it to here. Next time I'll just copy and past the edited version right into the Doc Manager.**

* * *

The bandwagon of gear-laden teenagers plus one ten-year-old arrived, with Sora bemoaning the fact that his snow suit was a child's size, just as it was starting to get dark. However, it was another good twenty or thirty minutes before Yuya had finally finished his report. He felt like his entire body had frozen solid and the only thing he wanted in the world right then was a cup of tea and a hot shower.

He rose from the sofa and took note of the shoes that were lined up at the doorway (as enforced by Sawatari). The number told him that Rin, Yugo and Crow had returned from scouting slopes at some point during his proof-reading.

He mustn't have heard them come in. Or maybe he'd fallen asleep at some point.

That actually seemed more likely.

When they had all gone their separate ways that morning, they had left the dishes unfinished, and the kitchen was a disaster. So, Yuya was glad that someone was in there dealing with the problem when he entered the kitchen, if only so he didn't feel compelled to do the task himself.

He found Rin and Yuzu in the process of putting away the last of the dishes from breakfast. It was the first time he'd seen the since her little tantrum thingy earlier that day. He swore she was avoiding him.

It wasn't in Yuya's nature to hold onto anger for very long, especially when it came to Yuzu. She got under his skin so easily, but she was hard to stay mad at, especially when she was wearing that ridiculous Christmas sweater that he and Sora had gotten her as a joke gift a few years back because it had looked so awful. She'd since taken to wearing it enthusiastically just to spite them both.

He resigned himself to the fact that, even though she'd started…whatever it was that had just happened, he felt compelled to put a stop to it and clear the air as soon as possible. He wasn't sure why she was even so surly in the first place, but he didn't like it when things were weird between them.

"Hey, Yuzu-!"

"I think I'll go to bed!" Yuzu announced to Rin in an obviously forced tone, cutting him off sharply before he could get so much as another syllable.

Rin looked at her from the corner of her eye, then glanced between her and Yuya repeatedly, clearly confused. "Are you sure? It's still pretty early in the evening, and Reira has more board games for us all to play."

"No, I'm sure" Yuzu shook her head determinedly, and Yuya knew he'd done something really wrong. "If we're all going to get up early to go skiing tomorrow, I want to be well-rested."

"Alright…" Rin said, sounding a little uncertain "If you say so."

"Yeah. You all enjoy the games. I'll stay up with you all tomorrow, okay?" Yuzu shot Rin a warm smile, then a brief glance and a jerk of her head that might have been a nod to Yuya, walking out of the kitchen.

Once she was gone, Rin looked curiously at Yuya, but he just shook his head and squeezed past her to get to the cabinet where the mugs were kept.

There were a lot of good things about Rin, but one of the best, in Yuya's opinion, was that she was very talented at reading people and knowing when to let things drop. A sharp intuition that he himself was notoriously terrible at. Without a single question on the subject of Yuzu's strange behaviour, she murmured something about making sure Yugo hadn't gotten into any trouble and made a tactful exit from the kitchen.

Left to his own devices, Yuya set about making tea. Sawatari had already given him a full rundown on the kitchen the previous day, in case he wanted to make himself a snack (at least, he assumed that was why. Sawatari was well aware Yuya couldn't cook to save his life – he'd ended up in the hospital last time he'd tried to endure a meal made by him), and the prospect of something hot and minty was enough to perk him up.

"You too, huh?"

Yuya jumped, whirling around to find the source of the unexpected voice in one former Academia elitist, sitting at his new favourite table and still reading the same Cyrillic book he'd had his nose in since breakfast. But now, he was glancing over the top of said book, his nose wrinkled up in an unusually sympathetic grimace. He'd been so quiet that Yuya hadn't even realised Yuri was there in the relatively small room the whole time. He was far more dressed-down than his usual self, wearing what Yuya presumed to be a pair of pyjamas, and it was weird to see the buttoned-up boy so casual.

"What?"

"So, did he say something to her or something to you in front of her to make her more of a bitck than usual?" He guessed "From experience, I'd say the latter."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Your lack of interaction states volumes, considering you've been left alone in a house with Dennis all day" He explained, still not looking Yuya in the eye directly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that she's a little pissy, that someone's pulling moves on someone she thinks is hers. I'd apologise, but by this point, I've given up on trying to reign that freakshow in."

Yuya's pensive frown deepened. "So, Dennis's little…affectionate episode? That's what's making her so crabby?"

"Probably. That one's always been possessive of you. It's the only reason I have to respect her."

It was a sign of how pathetically far gone he was that this casual observation was enough to make him feel like smiling.

"You think so?" Yuya asked, taking his steaming mug of tea from the counter and sitting at the table instead. Someone had pulled up another chair at it earlier, which implied Yuri hadn't been alone that whole evening.

"Definitely" Yuri said in a tone that implied he was not enjoying this conversation, but still felt compelled to continue it. He flipped to the next page of his book, clearly paying Yuya even less attention than before now. "A couple of certain brats a few classes below me had a running bet about how long it was going take for her to completely blow a gasket when Grace started throwing herself at you...right after the Professor got wheeled out the back door."

Yuya winced, remembering that little fiasco in great detail. "I guess she was a little extra violent around then, wasn't she?"  
The spark of irritation faded somewhat from Yuri's pinkish eyes and he snapped his book shut, staring thoughtfully at the table. "Well, at least she's willing to fight for you. You have my envy for that."

Yuya frowned, completely baffled at what he was saying. "You're in love?"

He wasn't even aware Yuri was capable of love.

Said boy gritted his teeth and pushed his chair back, a vein pulsating on his temple. "Shut up."

"With Serena?" That was all Yuya could guess.

Yuri turned a certain shade of green that told Yuya he was completely wrong as the other boy stood up, all the irritation coming right back. "Why do I even bother? Trying to have an intelligent conversation with an idiot like you? I'd be better off trying to discuss with that Synchro-!"

"Dennis?"

Yuri screeched to a stop halfway to the door. Yuya could feel his own heart racing and guessed that Yuri's was as well. He simply couldn't think of anyone else Yuri could've possible forged a strong enough connection with to consider himself in love. If those feelings were directed towards Dennis then, well, that opened a whole new kettle of fish, didn't it?

"That American bastard doesn't know how to love anyone but himself" Yuri informed him "I wouldn't waste my time wanting him to fight for me."

Yuya noted that wasn't a flat-out denial.

"Well, I wish you luck!"

Yuri didn't say anything for several seconds, and Yuya saw his hand trembling before he clenched it shut.

"And the same to you" He told Yuya quietly, before making his exit.

* * *

Sora swore that the only thing he was doing outside at ten o'clock in the evening was searching for one of his game cartridges. He had no ulterior motives in parading around in the snow in his snow boots and pyjamas in million degree temperatures. And it wasn't his fault that the front door was one of those stupid ones that locked itself behind you whenever it closed.

So, he'd had no choice, you see, but to walk around to the back door of the lodge in order to get back inside once he had found his game cartridge. If that route took him past the Jacuzzi...well, that wasn't exactly his fault.

"Hey, Sora!"

He jumped at the sound of a female voice calling his name, and immediately looked up at the balcony above him, thinking that maybe either Yuzu or Serena was calling down to him.

"Sora, over here! Jump in!"

Sora looked across the snow-covered deck, glancing at the Jacuzzi as he wondered what moron was outside this late at night, and... _my god_ , he was not expecting that!

The Xyz scu-, er, remnants appeared to have abandoned their tight living quarters in favour of the warmest place in the house. Kurosaki and Yuto appeared to be wearing nothing but their boxers, the rest of their clothes being neatly folded up on an area of decking in which the snow had been brushed away, appearing to be being unusually friendly as they were waving at him idly.

Ruri, the one who had called to him, was in her underwear and a tank top that, due to it being wet, left absolutely nothing to the imagination as she splashed the bubbling water in some sort of an attempt to beckon him over. Sora was momentarily surprised by the lack of piercing glares he was receiving from Kurosaki and Yuto...but the presence of two almost-empty bottles of vodka by the side of the Jacuzzi pretty much answered that question for him.

"Come and shill with us!" Ruri all but yelled.

Sora instantly felt uneasy. "Is that some sort of sex game?"

Ruri laughed loudly, acting as if his unease was hilarious (which it wasn't). "No, silly! We're just hanging out as a group of friends and having fun together! Come and join in!"

"Yeah, I think the word is 'chill'"Sora corrected. "Which is also pretty great for describing out here as well: it's absolutely freezing. Call me when the sun comes back...and maybe when there are less scary older brothers around."

Sora liked teasing Kurosaki because of...reasons, but getting into a Jacuzzi with his little sister while they were both wearing minimal clothing?

Yeah, he liked having fun sadistically, but he wasn't completely suicidal.

"Oh, come on, don't make me come and drag you in here!" Ruri pouted in such a way that would normally have Sora shedding his clothes and making a break for the bubbling water in a heartbeat. But Kurosaki was right there, and even though he may be in a vodka-induced haze right now, Sora didn't want to take his chances when it wore off.

"No, thanks" he told her but with a bit of disappointment in his voice "...but, you know what-!"

"COWABUNGA!"

Sora almost had his second heart attack of the night as Serena emerged from the back door of the lodge stark naked, took a running jump and then cannonballed into the Jacuzzi.

Yuto reacted instantly, jumping out of the water like it was on fire with a scream and wrapping himself in a cardigan whose size told Sora insistently that it was Kurosaki's to keep himself warm.

Kurosaki seemed rather nonplussed with the intrusion, although, maybe a little upset since his hair was now wet, and he had to rub the splashed water out of his eyes.

"You aren't running away" Ruri noted with delight.

Kurosaki shrugged. Or nearly drowned. Sora found it rather hard to tell.

"She's just you naked, right?" He theorised. "I've seen you without your clothes on plenty of times."

Ruri thought about that statement for a second before nodding sagely. "Get back in, Yuto, she's just me naked!" She tried to coax her friend back into the warmth of the Jacuzzi. "You've seen that before, right?"

And there went the only sane part of Sora's brain. He honestly did not want to find out how these three operated; for his own personal sanity, if nothing else.

Yuto's teeth were chattering too hard for him to speak, but he shook his head fiercely to make his point.

Serena finally popped her head back up, sitting between the Kurosaki siblings in such a way as to indicate she was sitting on one of their knees at the bare minimum.

"Whoa! That was fun, right?" She cheered, making Sora wonder if she'd gotten into the liquor cabinet too. "So, whose lap am I sitting on?"

That question got Kurosaki moving. Instantly, the older sibling was up and out of the water, knocking Serena off of her perch in the process, trying to snatch his cardigan back from Yuto. However, the smaller boy dodged out of his way, and before long, the two boys were chasing each other around the deck, trying to claim ownership of the cardigan for themselves.

Serena, meanwhile, cozied up to Ruri's side in the water. "So, Ronnie, what's hanging?"

Ruri was too busy grinning to realise that Serena had gotten her name wrong. "We're shilling!"

Serena punched the air, one of her breasts emerging from the water for Sora's viewing. "Awesome! How do we do that?"

Sora made a hasty retreat inside the lodge at that, wondering if the sight of Serena being naked, or Kurosaki and Yuto wearing nothing but wet boxers on a cold night would scar him for life first.

Even all of Academia's training couldn't have prepared him for that.

* * *

"Rin."

Rin was almost asleep when she heard Yugo's voice whisper from the other side of the bed. She rolled over and rubbed her eyes, meeting with Yugo's baby blues ones with not even a lick of fatigue in them.

"Go to sleep, Yugo" She told him.

"I can't" he told her "I keep hearing yelling outside."

Yelling?

Rin tried to hear, but her head was fuzzy from exhaustion, and she could only hear the white noise buzzing in her ears. On the other hand, she had heard a funny screaming noise outside earlier in the evening, but Sawatari had reassured her that it was just the sound of owls in the forest. Maybe he was just hearing that? Or maybe Yuri and Dennis had stepped outside to argue some more, in which case, it was none of their business.

"It's probably just owls" Rin told him.

Yugo wrinkled his nose in confusion. "What are owls?"

"Big birds" Rin told him "They only come out at night and make screaming noises."

Yugo's eyes widened with amazement. "Wow, really? That's amazing! You're so smart, Rin!"

"Uh-huh" Rin rolled over, facing away from him so she could finally drift off to slumber "Goodnight, Yugo."

"Don't let the bedbugs bite!" Yugo told her, following the script of the same bedtime routine they'd practiced since they were children.

Rin finally managed to nod off to sleep, Yugo following not long after. Just before he did fall asleep though, he could've sworn that he heard another familiar-sounding yell.

"My cardigan!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Due to time zone differences, this chapter came out later than I'd expected. That means I probably won't be able to post any more chapters until I come back from my holiday in September. If I find a hotel wifi, I should be able to, but I'm just giving you all a heads up in case I don't.**

 **Once again, thank you to my wonderful beta CorinnetheAnime for proof-reading this and also for her skiing knowledge - I had no idea what a double black diamond was.**

* * *

"WAHOOO!"

"Wait! Slow down! Wait for me!"

Crow had never seen a digital camera before arriving in Standard, but he felt he was coping well as he filmed Reira's first attempt at pushing himself along with the poles as he stood on his skis. Gongenzaka was wearing snow boots, his skis a few feet away, poking out of the snow, walking alongside the ten-year-old in case anything went wrong, as well as being the designated teddy bear holder. But everything was going along smoothly.

That was, until he heard the whooping somewhere behind him that he swore was familiar from when a certain pair of Duel Runner riders would race each other in the alley behind his house and keep his kids awake most of the night.

"Yugo, knock it off!" Crow complained, whipping around to tell the eighteen-year-old off.

Only…Yugo didn't wear a pink snow suit.

"Rin, wait! Don't leave me behind!"

Yugo's wail of anguish was in vain, for his girlfriend paid very little attention to him as she careered down the slope on her recently acquired snowboard, kicking up plumes of snow as she swerved around imaginary objects on her way down, spraying snow unapologetically in the faces of innocent skiers, some of whom fell over. Yugo was trying to follow her frantically on a pair of skis, his arms flailing as he tried to catch up, yelling after her:

"Rin! Don't leave me! Wait!"

"That…actually makes sense" Crow remarked, nodding thoughtfully.

"What makes sense?" Gongenzaka, who'd been watching Reira intently, looked up with a frown, apparently having missed Yugo and Rin's appearance and disappearance.

Crow shook his head and went back to film. "No, doesn't matter. Look this way, Reira. You can show this to your brother when you get home."

* * *

If looks could kill, then Dennis Macfield would've been shot, stabbed, strangled and pulverised multiple times by this point as he clung to the right arm of another red-haired entertainment duelist. Yuzu had to physically retrain herself as Dennis promptly fell on his rear for the tenth time in the past few minutes, forcing Yuya to have to help him up again and allowing Dennis to tuck himself up against her boyfriend more securely. The only reason she hadn't gone over there and physically separated them was because Yuya was laughing and smiling and she didn't have the heart to make him upset.

She'd intended to clean the air between them and apologise for being so short with him yesterday, but she hadn't had a chance whilst they were still at the lodge with so many people swarming them in the tight space. So she'd waited until they were at the slopes and had approached Yuya to ask if he wanted her to teach him how to ski. When he agreed (because she knew he would) they would head up to the top of the slope and she'd apologise and they'd have a fun day skiing together. It would be good to get some quality time together – they really didn't get that much anymore.

But before she'd had a chance to pull Yuya aside, Dennis had grabbed his hand and dragged him towards the ski lift, insisting:

"Hey, Yuya! Come on! You can't ski and I can't ski so let's look stupid together!"

At the moment though, the only one looking stupid was Dennis. Yuya's entertainment duelling training meant he had brilliant balance and he was coping quite well on skis. But Dennis, who'd had the same training as Yuya as well as Academia solider training was somehow falling over or falling on top of Yuya every minute or so. It was clearly a ploy, but Yuzu couldn't understand what for. It didn't make sense for Dennis to be doing it just to hit on Yuya – not when the guy was aware Yuya and Yuzu were dating. No, the guy was too calculating to do something so juvenile. She was pretty sure Yuya hadn't prompted him either. So Dennis was either doing for his own amusement, to amuse someone else or to make someone else jealous. Yuzu just wasn't sure which one it was.

Not to mention Yuya seemed completely oblivious to it.

"Hey, Yuzu!"

Yuzu's scowl accompanied by gritted teeth relaxed into a smile as she saw Serena dismount from the lift. The darker-haired girl had bags under her eyes, leaving Yuzu to wonder what she'd been doing all night, but was grinning as she crab-walked over to where Yuzu was standing so as to not slip whilst wearing her skis.

"What are you still doing at the top?" Serena asked "You were, like, the first one up? What have you been doing?"

"Debating the legalities of killing a man not from Standard on Standard soil" Yuzu told her curtly "I mean, if he doesn't exist in this dimension, it's not like the police can do anything about it, right?"

"Er…I don't know, I'd say Reiji would still be pretty pissed" Serena told her, looking past her to see what Dennis was doing "Hey, wanna go down together?"

To distract herself from one Fusion resident, Yuzu looked Serena in her black snow suit up and down. She was holding the poles upside down and her skis were crossed.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Yuzu asked rhetorically, wondering how Serena had already made it down the slope once without an injury.

Serena ducked her head and all but blushed. "Er…"

Now having a reason to be positive, Yuzu smiled warmly at her. "Don't worry, I'll help you out. My dad used to take me skiing all the time."

Serena sighed with what was probably relief. "Oh thank god! Thank you! _Kurosaki_ 's doing better than me and I need to beat Birdbrain or Sora's going to make me regret being alive!"

Yuzu laughed. "Alright Serena, let's get you graduated from the bunny slope!"

* * *

"Now you got to keep loose- just like that. That'll give you more flexibility going down and keeps you more stable on the curves. Don't tense up, that's the worst thing you can do."

Yuto watched from a distance as Sawatari walked Ruri and Sora through the basics of snowboarding. He had finished strapping on his skis a while ago; now he was just allowing Sawatari to think he was hopeless at getting the straps on right as an excuse to observe Sawatari helping one of his best friends without seeming suspicious.

He wasn't Shun but any means, but he could be just as cautious when it same to who Ruri talked to. It was stupid and paranoid and showed a complete lack of trust in her judgement, but it was instinct and not easily overridden, even after four years of peace. He had a tendency to monitor anyone Ruri interacted with who wasn't from Heartland or Xyz in general.

Sora was a former Academia soldier, but Reiji trusted him and Yuto trusted Reiji's judgement. Not to mention, he was one of Yuzu's best friends. It was more so Sawatari he was watching.

It seemed silly, since Sawatari was a member of the original Lancers group. But he was the one to invite them all out to the lodge in the first place. Yuto wasn't used to people from other dimensions – especially not the eternally bragging Sawatari – performing selfless actions without some sort of ulterior motive behind it. So when he'd first gotten the invitation, he'd had a long discussion with Shun on whether this was some sort of trap and whether they should be ready for a fight when they got there. But it appeared Sawatari really did what nothing in return, and Yuto honestly respected that.

"Ow!"

Yuto turned around to see Shun plodding towards him in his snow boots, carrying his skis under his arm and trying to zip up his slightly undersized snow suit with his free hand. He'd just twisted his ankle, although not severely, which had caused him to yelp and adjust his new accessories.

"Why are you wearing sunglasses?" Yuto just had to ask.

Shun looked at Yuto like he was honestly surprised he'd asked. "Reiji told me that the sunlight reflects off the snow and can damage your eyes."

Ordinarily, Yuto may've believed that. "Don't lie to me. You're hungover."

Shun scoffed dismissively. "I'm not hungover. I'm perfectly fine."

Yuto didn't like being lied to, so he quickly reached up and snatched the sunglasses off of Shun's face. The reaction was instantaneous as Shun covered his eyes and bent over slightly, yelling with pain that it was too bright, too bright!

"Yeah, sure, you're fine" Yuto responded flatly "Your alcohol tolerance is pathetic. I had just as much as you last night but I'm at least able to walk straight."

"I'm fine!" Shun insisted, snatching his sunglasses back and putting them over his eyes again "We came here to ski, so let's ski already!"

"Well you're going to find it pretty hard to ski if you're not wearing any skis" Yuto pointed out.

Shun seemed to concede that point as he crouched down to put his skis on, promptly falling over from a lack of balance.

Well, that did it. Yuto wasn't sticking around to help, best friend or otherwise.

"Hey, Yuto! Shun!" Ruri waved him over "Let's go down together!"

Yuto smiled and crab-walked his way over to her. He'd learnt not to try and push forward or he'd go skidding down the slope involuntarily.

"I think Shun's still going to be here when we get back up" Yuto told her "He's still got a hangover."

Ruri clicked her tongue disappointedly. "I told him he shouldn't have so much to drink."

Yuto frowned, recalling who was the principle instigator last night. "That's not how I remember it."

"Hey, come on, enough talking!" Sora pulled up beside them "All of us can go down together. I mean, look at Sawatari! He makes it look easy!"

Sawatari had just pushed off down the slope, poles either side of him to speed up, then alternating which side they were on to change direction. He did make it look easy.

"Everyone ready?" Ruri checked.

Yuto was finding it hard to believe that he was about to try his first attempt at skiing alongside his best friend's sister and a former Academia solider. If he'd told himself that four years ago, he would've laughed in his own face…and then some.

But for now, he could put any cultural differences aside. What dimension anyone was from didn't matter at that moment.

For now, he was going to learn to ski.

Maybe.

Hopefully.

Yuto pushed himself forward with the little poles and gravity grasped him instantly. The battle-hardened war veteran was not afraid to say he screamed like a little girl with sheer terror as he went whizzing down the slope, his arms flailing wildly as he tried not to fall flat on his face.

* * *

Despite the common opinion of most of the guests at the ski lodge, Yuya wasn't, in fact, an idiot. He could be naïve at times, but not an idiot by any stretch of the imagination.

So he was perfectly aware of the fact that Dennis was trying to drive a wedge between him and Yuzu and was playing him like a fiddle.

At first, Yuya had no complaints about spending the morning with Dennis. Dennis didn't exactly have many friends besides Yuri, so perhaps he just wanted some company now that he and Yuri were no longer on speaking terms. Yuya and Yuzu saw each other every day – him spending some time with a lonely Dennis wasn't going to kill her. But he was rapidly starting to regret his decision and now he just didn't want to cause a scene.

Dennis was probably one of the most intelligent human beings Yuya had ever met; certainly when it came to human interaction. He was usually happy and ditsy and generally fun-loving because that's what he wanted the world to think of him as. But how he was acting now was something Yuya had never seen nor ever expected from him. The empty, simpering tone he'd been using on him for the last hour wasn't like Dennis at all and he was getting sick of it. He wasn't interested in Dennis and he was at least 60% certain that Dennis wasn't _really_ interested in him either, despite the way he was acting. There was some underlying motive behind his actions and Yuya didn't appreciate being used like a tool in whatever game he was playing, and he certainly didn't appreciate Dennis dragging Yuzu into it.

"Hey, Dennis" he finally said after helping Dennis up out of the snow for what was somewhere around the fortieth time.

"Yep?" Dennis looked down at him innocently, like this wasn't all somehow involved in some sort of master plan.

"You fly around on your Performages monsters, right?" Yuya checked, making sure Dennis had no way to back out of admitting what he was doing.

"Of course!" Dennis all but grinned at the mention of his entertainment duelling skills "It's all part of the entertainment, dear Yuya."

'Dear' Yuya. Wasn't 'dear' a term Dennis tended to reserve for when he was addressing girls? What was going on?

Yuya decided to be blunt with him. "So a guy who can fly around on a duel monster without any concerns shouldn't be falling over as much as you are."

Dennis obviously realised he'd been caught out. But he didn't give Yuya the satisfaction of an answer. Instead he raised both hands in a surrender motion and cried out in a jovial tone:

"Whoopsie!"

"No, not whoopsie" Yuya wasn't impressed with Dennis' act "I know you and Yuri are having a hard time or whatever, but can you please just leave me out of your…rebound, I guess?"

Dennis looked down at his feet and clasped his hands together, bowing his head and adopting an apologetic pose. "I'm sorry, Yuya, if I made you uncomfortable."

Yes, he had. But more importantly, he'd upset Yuzu. Yuya could've blown up on him, but Dennis looked depressed enough as it was and Yuya didn't want to upset anyone else more than they already were. There were enough hurt feelings without his input.

"Hey, don't worry about it" Yuya told him, placing a hand on his shoulder "We're alright. Just, apologise to Yuzu when you see her, okay?"

Dennis perked right back up again, visibly relieved. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Hey, do you want to go down the slope one more time? Because we're friends, right?"

It seemed a bit cruel to say no. He couldn't imagine something going drastically wrong just racing down the slope once in Dennis' company. Maybe it was another ploy, but it couldn't be that harmful.

"Alright, one more time" Yuya agreed.

"Race you to the bottom?" Dennis offered.

Neither were partially good skiers, so a race between them would be interesting to say the least. If they could avoid running into each other.

Yuya had just enough time to recognise there was no way this was going to end well before Dennis pushed off, not even giving Yuya a chance to agree to race. Yuya tried to push off as well, but he just moved a few inches in the thick snow as Dennis seemed to glide along the top of it like he was wearing roller skates. He tried to push off again after him, now realising he was about to have his butt kicked by someone who'd been falling on _his_ butt all morning.

* * *

At the bottom of the slopes was a public lodge for those ski enthusiasts who were not fortunate enough to have a cabin, rented or otherwise, in the nearby area. The lobby featured a snack bar serving a variety of soups, snacks and hot beverages. It was at one of the small round tables by the window that Yuri sat at, staring moodily out the window, his unused skis propped against the back of his chair.

His eyes tracked the progress of a skier with vividly red hair and an orange snow suit. When he reached the bottom safely and performed an exhilarated victory dance that involved flinging himself into the arms of the other red-haired young man who had reached the bottom shortly after him, Yuri let out a pained groan and dropped his face forward onto the table top in misery. Dennis knew how to throw a punch, even if it wasn't physically, that was for sure.

"What ya doing?"

Yuri seriously considered bashing his head against the table until his skull caved in at the sound of the familiar higher-pitched voice hovering over him. His self-preservation kicked in though and instead he looked up blearily at the green-eyed devil standing at his table, twisting a lollipop in his mouth.

"Go away" Yuri told him in such a tone that would normally have people running for the hills. But Yuri wasn't as scary as either Reiji Abaka or his father, and Sora had once been the enemy of both, so Yuri's little tantrum didn't deter him at all.

Sora slumped down in the chair opposite to Yuri at his table, staring at him with wide eyes, hungry for knowledge. "I said, what ya doing?"

"Wishing I'd killed you much sooner" Yuri snapped.

"Aww" Sora cooed "You've got a broken heart. Poor little Yuri."

"I will _destroy_ you!" Yuri yelled as he almost pushed himself across the table to strangle Sora, attracting the attention of everyone in the public lodge briefly before they went back to their own business.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't take it out on me" Sora pouted, secretly getting a kick out of tormenting a normally well-put-together Yuri, who was ordinarily immune to such teasing "It's not my fault Dennis dumped you."

Yuri sat fully upright again, completely outraged as his mouth flopped open. "What?! Dennis did not dump me, you ignorant child! We weren't even-"

"But you wish you were, don't you?" Sora shot back, silencing Yuri with the truthfulness of the statement "Whatever you say, it's gotta suck that he hates you now, right?"

Yuri regarded at him with a blank stare for several seconds before his shoulders slumped dejectedly. "Yes. It does…suck."

Sora flashed him a grin that almost everyone who knew him meant they should be very afraid, because he had a dangerous idea in his head that would no doubt end in someone getting hurt.

"Well, there's no point in sitting in here and just _letting_ your day suck" Sora told him "You need to get out there in the powder already!"

Yuri looked out the window at the slope and then back at Sora, frowning uncertainly.

"If you don't want to go with Dennis, you can come with me" Sora suggested "Sawatari taught me how to snowboard and I'm really good! Better than that Xyz girl, huh?"

"I…er-"

"Great!" Sora produced a wrapped to wrap his lollipop in so his awful multi-coloured snow suit wouldn't get sticky "I'll just drink my hot chocolate and then we can go ski!"

Sora looked so taken with the idea of showing Yuri how to ski that Yuri's didn't have heart (courage) to tell him no (it had nothing to do with the fact that denying Sora Shuin'in something usually ended in mauling for the denier). So Yuri could only sit there and sweat as Sora guzzled his entire hot chocolate in less than 60 seconds before slamming the mug down on the table so hard he nearly cracked it.

"Come on!" Sora jumped to his feet, grabbing Yuri by the wrist and, barely allowing him a moment to grab his skis and poles, hauled him forcibly out of the public lodge into the snow. Sora gave him the bare minimum of time to snap his skis into place on his boots and then he was being dragged towards the waiting area for the lift.

"The line's not very long right now" Sora informed him solemnly "So we'll get to the top super fast."

"Yes, that is usually how it works" Yuri responded sardonically, really not happy with the situation he'd found himself in.

The next thing he knew, he was being shoved into a lift and the ground was vanishing from beneath his feet.

"Maybe we can find Crow – he was up here with Akaba's kid brother earlier" Sora leaned forward to peer down, making the open chair rock dangerously "I bet he'd like to ski with us."

Yuri went a bit green and grabbed tightly to the side of the chair.

After the most nerve-wracking chairlift ride of Yuri's life and a few minutes of wandering around the open area at the top of the slopes, they did indeed find Crow hanging around the bunny slope. Crow had just pushed Reira gently down the slope after Gongenzaka, and was now keeping an eye on the Kurosakis, one of which kept falling over on her snowboard and the other was attempting to go down with his arms folded and sunglasses on.

Oy vey.

"I'm trying to help them out but…" Crow looked back and forth between the Kurosakis and the new arrivals "They're just…impossible."

Sora fluffed out his wind-tossed hair with one hand as he watched the siblings fail to ski. The inspired gleam in his eye did not inspire confidence in Yuri in the slightest. He tightened his coat nervously, hoping to prevent any snowy assaults on his bare skin, at least. Hoping to avoid having to be alone with him and potentially suffering the consequences he felt he had been mercifully spared thus far, Yuri asked:

"Why don't you come ski with us?"

Crow shrugged. "I would, but Yuto asked me to watch these two."

Yuri felt his chance at salvation slipping slowly away.

"No!" he protested, a little desperately "I insist- er…command that you to come with us!"

Crow, clearly confused at the normally proud Yuri's sudden burst of desperation, glanced at the Sora, who now laughing at Kurosaki tripping over his sister, then back at Yuri, and raised an amused eyebrow. Pushing aside his pride, Yuri pleaded silently with Crow, who he knew to be a reasonable person, hoping he would give in and spare Yuri from being tackled into the snow or pushed off a cliff or whatever other mad thing the utterly fearless and sadistic Sora Shuin'in might take it into his head to do to him.

With a smirk on his face, Crow shrugged and agreed.

"If I can find somebody else to deal with Kurosaki and Ruri, since Gongenzaka seems to be taking care of Reira" he nodded "Where's Yuto anyway?" He addressed Sora with that question. "He ditched me with these two without telling me where he was going when I caught him going down the red slope. He said you pushed him down it."

Yuri swallow nervously at the mention of Sora already messing with people up here. Ordinarily Yuri could've easily subdued the much smaller boy, but up here on the side of a steep mountain with sticks attached to his feet and no control over the situation? He wasn't exactly in his element up here.

Sora shrugged. "I dunno. I didn't even see him get to the bottom. I just wanted hot chocolate."

Crow appeared to mull this over before raising his head at the sound of a voice yelling:

"Rin! Wait for me!"

"Hey, Rin!" Crow called across the slope. It appeared Rin and Yugo had return to the bunny slope after a few hours cruising the steeper slopes.

Rin brought the snowboard to a stop brilliantly about a hundred yards away from Crow.

"What is it?" Rin asked, almost shouting to be heard over the noise of the other skiers.

"Can you watch Kurosaki and Ruri while I'm gone?" Crow asked, watching Yugo go whizzing past them. He suddenly realised his mistake, stopped himself and turned around, climbing up the slope sideways to try and reach Rin again.

"Sure" Rin agreed "Go have fun!"

"I'll meet you at the bottom of the lift in a little while" Crow promised "I'll find Yuto and tell him to pick up his family."

He strapped on his skis again and fled the bunny hill with even more enthusiasm than Sora.

"Soooooo" Sora said, drawing out the 'o' for an unreasonably long time. Sora never did do well in public speaking, Yuri recalled from in class. "Ready to go?"

"What?" Yuri asked, not following his line of thought.

Sora flashed him that maniacal and sadistic grin of his once more and launched himself onto the nearest slope. Yuri glanced at the rating sign, then did a double take because he couldn't possibly be seeing that.

"Wait, no!" he shouted "Shuin'in, that's a double black diamond!"

He lurched forward to try and stop Sora, but the blue-haired boy was already long gone, cackling loudly as he cut sharp zig-zags in the thick snow across the slope. The offset of balance caused Yuri to go right after him involuntarily, the former Academia elite solider doing his best not to scream as he silently chanted prayers to the Professor or Starve Vemon or any deity that would listen that he would make it to the bottom in one piece.

* * *

Now a little tired as lunch had come and passed, Rin sat down in the snow to keep an eye on her new charges, removing her snowboard from her snow boots to make herself more comfortable. Yugo, not exactly to her surprise, volunteered to stay with her and keep her company while she Kurosaki-sat, and he chatted her to about the exciting game of pool he, Gongenzaka, Crow and Serena had had the previous evening, that Yugo won since Rin hadn't taken part. Rin didn't mind his chatter – it was always good to see Yugo so happy after everything he'd gone through.

Rin started to grow uncomfortable sitting in the cold snow. She's had no problems watching Kurosaki trying to help his sister stand on her board as he pushed her along on flat ground, occasionally tripping over in the ankle-deep snow. But it was getting chilly, and though the exercise of snowboarding had kept her warm before, now she was sitting still, she was starting to feel feel cold as her sweat cooled beneath her suit and the dampness of the snow began to seep through her slick snow pants.

"You're shivering" Yugo noted.

"Only a little" Rin reassured him, trying not to panic him.

He immediately panicked anyway and she had been expecting him to make the offer of going back down to the lodge to purchase her a cup of hot chocolate; but she did not expect him to strip of his coat and wrap it around her shoulders.

"You don't have to!" she protested, trying to hand his jacket back to him "You'll get cold yourself!"

"Don't be silly! I'm going to get us some hot chocolate" Yugo informed her, standing up and rubbing his gloved hands together for warmth "But I'm not about to leave you out here in the cold. I'll be back soon."

He sprinted off towards the public lodge, rubbing his arms to keep warm. Rin watched him until he disappeared around a bend out of sight. With a soft little smile on her lips, she wrapped his coat around her after all. Whilst she waited, she turned her attention back to the Kurosaki siblings. Now Ruri had given up on her snowboard and was trying out Kurosaki's skis…with just as much success. Making sure they didn't get too close to the base of any of the steeper slopes where impatient skiers may knock them over occupied her attention until her boyfriend returned.

A good fifteen minutes later, Yugo finally appeared from behind the line of people waiting for their turn on the ski lift, just barely avoiding dumping the entire cup of hot chocolate over her in his eagerness to please her. He grinned at Rin and held it out to her. Gratefully she reached for the hot beverage, but before she could grasp it, he pulled it back and took her hand in hers instead. To her surprise, he bowed over her hand and dropped a kiss on her knuckles through her knit gloves. Then, he straightening up and he handed her the hot chocolate.

"For you, my love" he declared proudly.

She laughed, feeling a blush spread across her face as he flopped down in the snow next to her and tucked himself under her arm. He was obviously cold.

"Yugo, are you alright?" she asked.

"Well, duh" he said, sounding confused at the question "Why wouldn't I be?"

And she would have believed him, except for the fact that he sounded so apprehensive when he said it. Yugo was many things, but good at pretending about his emotions was not one of them.

"Are you sure?" she asked, coaxing him "You're acting a little strange."

Yugo let lose a peal of raucous, way-too-loud laughter.

"I think you've been out in the cold too long, Rin!" He laughed "I'm not acting strange at all!"

She sighed, letting him lean against her to take advantage of her body heat.

"If you say so" she murmured, sipping at the hot chocolate.

* * *

Yuzu waved Serena off as the girl began to plod her way towards one of the steeper slopes. After a bit of tutoring from Yuzu, it was Serena's dare-devil nature that allowed the girl to take to skiing like a fish to water. Within two hours, Yuzu found she was being beaten to the bottom of the slope by her new prodigy. Now tired, she was sat a little way back from the slopes so she wasn't in the way of the skiers, content to watch Serena and Sora's endless loops of the slopes and ski lift (Yuri had apparently either given up or died in an avalanche. Yuzu didn't care which).

"You taking a break, too?"

Yuzu looked up to see Yuto approaching her, carrying his skis over his shoulder. He, like Serena, had bags under his eyes and Yuzu couldn't help but wonder what party happened last night that she hadn't been invited to.

"I'm just tired" she told him "What happened to you? I haven't seen you for ages."

Yuto came and sat next to her in the snow. "I needed to get away. I left them with Crow and hid in the back of the public lodge for a hour."

Yuzu didn't need him to tell her who 'them' were.

"Too overbearing?" she guessed.

"Not at all" Yuto told her "In love them – they're the best friends I could ever have. Just…not today."

"Are they drunk?" Yuzu asked "Because Serena looks like she partied her butt off last night."

"They were drunk, now they're just hungover" Yuto explained "I don't know if it's a genetic thing, but they're both terrible with hangovers. They should film Hangover 4 using inspiration from them. Ruri can't work out which way is up and is even more enthusiastic than usual. Shun tried to put on his skis backwards and keeps calling me Kaito and challenging me to duels."

"Oh" Yuzu could see the problem.

"So, please just let me hide here" he pleaded "I love them but…I'm not immune to hangovers either. And I need to get a break. So, please?"

"Yeah, sure" Yuzu agreed, though she got the feeling Yuto just wanted an ear to listen more than anything else.

Yuto sighed with relief and flopped back in the thick snow. Yuzu worried he was going to get a cold with his head encompassed in the white powder, but maybe his hangover was causing a headache and he needed to cool down.

"So, there was a party last night?" Yuzu decided to carry out some small talk, since Yuto was here "And I wasn't invited?"

"It was a spur of the moment thing" Yuto informed her "And, what, with the mood you were in last night? I don't think giving you alcohol would be the best idea."

Yuzu had to concede that point. She had been terrible last night. At least Yuya had the sense to come to bed after she went to sleep.

"I take it that's to do with why you're hiding" Yuto commented.

"I'm not hiding" Yuzu responded with immediately.

"So you're sitting in an isolated spot in the snow at the top of a mountain rather than sipping hot chocolate in the lovely, warm public lodge where the person you're hiding from could easily spot you" Yuto shot back, leaving Yuzu with nowhere to back out to.

Yuzu shoulders slumped. She pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them.

"It's stupid" she admitted "It's not even Yuya's fault. I should just go up to him and talk to him but…"

"You need time to cool off?" Yuto guessed "That's normal. Better than going up to him right away and saying something you regret."

"Yuto can you do me a favour?" Yuzu asked.

"Of course" Yuto sat up, quick to do anything that would make someone else's life easier "What is it?"

"If you see Dennis, can you punch the snot out of him?" she requested.

Yuto's eyes went wide as his moral compass had an aneurysm. He would do anything to help Yuzu, of course, but committing an assault? He'd had quiet enough of hurting people in his life.

"Ok, fine" Yuzu relented "Maybe you could just suggest to Kurosaki that Dennis complimented Ruri's…womanly figure."

Yuto didn't seem so bothered by that one. "I sure Shun would have no reservations about that. But surely you could do it yourself? You seem to have…a good aim for the topic in question."

"I prefer fans over fists – and a fan's too gentle for the point I'm trying to make" Yuzu told him "Besides, I don't need it upset Yuya any more than I already have by physically hurting his new best friend."

"Yuto, there you are!"

As though summoned by some divine stage cue, Yuya appeared in front of them. Yuzu panicked for a second, believing he'd heard her, but it became quickly apparently that he was out of breath and had clearly come running right up to them when he saw Yuto, rather than been eavesdropping.

"Yuto, Crow's been looking everywhere for you!" Yuya told the boy in question, looking like he'd run up and down the slope several times looking for Yuto "You just left him with Kurosaki and Ruri with no warning!"

"Oh" Yuto rubbing his eyes, his joints creaking as he got into a position where he could stand up from "I'm sorry, I guess I lost track of time. Is he still with them?"

"Er…I don't think so" Yuya had to think about it "I saw them with Yugo when I came up here."

Yuto stared at him, alarmed. "They're with Yugo?"

"Yeah, at the bottom of the slope" Yuya told him.

Yuto immediately jumped to his feet, pushing past Yuya as he made to run down the steep mountainside, having forgotten his skis. Yuzu wasn't sure if it was the knowledge that the group's most notorious prankster (besides Sora) was minding his two hungover friends that worried him, or it was the knowledge that the boy who had had essentially murdered him once already (for getting his name wrong no less) was minding his two hungover friends.

"Did Crow really leave the Kurosakis with Yugo?" Yuzu asked her boyfriend once Yuto was out of sight.

"With Yugo…and Rin" Yuya confessed "I just wanted to see him sweat. He kept me awake with his party last night. Good going for you, heading to bed early."

Yuzu looked down at the ground, unable to meet his eyes. "That wasn't good going. That was me being an idiot."

"No, I was the idiot" Yuya confessed "Dennis has been playing an angle since he got here, and he's been using me for it. Yuri tried to wake me up to it, but I had to see it with my own two eyes before I realised. I'm just glad he didn't push us apart even further." He knelt down in front of Yuzu and lifted her chin with his finger so he could look into her eyes. "I'm sorry. Can you forgive me?"

Yuzu wiped her eyes, though she wasn't crying yet. "Only if you can forgive me for taking my insecurities out on you."

"Insecurities?" Yuya stared at her, obviously not expecting that answer "Wait, you thought I was flirting back?"

Yuzu now felt pretty embarrassed. Yeah, the thought had crossed her mind for a while. It sounds so stupid now Yuya was right here, talking to her.

"God, I'm so stupid" she almost laughed at her own idiocy.

"For thinking I would leave you for Dennis? Yeah, there's no excuse for that. That was just plain stupid" Yuya told her.

They both found themselves laughing, feeling lighter than air now they had cleared the air between them. Feeling slightly lightheaded, Yuya sat next to Yuzu, them both putting their arms around each other and curling up like kittens until they were just a heap of tangled limbs and bright smiles.

"We're both stupid" Yuzu admitted "I thought when you became an adult all that immature insecurities stuff went away."

"Hey, you're still seventeen until next month" Yuya pointed out, tapping her on the nose "Legally you're still a child."

"Hey!" Yuzu protested, lightly hitting him on the shoulder, then groaning "Geez, only four years and we've already let a man get between us. How are we going to survive the rest of our lives dealing with each other?"

Yuya mimed think it over. "Hmmm…maybe I need to invest in a fan as well."

"Hey, the fans are my thing" Yuzu told him "Maybe you should start throwing you cards around like ninja stars or something? I'm sure no one's thought of that before."

Yuya scoffed. "Oh no, I could give people paper cuts! Card wouldn't work as ninja stars – Tsukikage would have me hung, drawn and quartered for suggesting such a thing. And besides, that's a complete waste of cards!"

They laughed again, just glad that they could joke together again.

"Hey, I'm still not very good at skiing" Yuya commented "Think you could help me out?"

Yuzu pulled a face like she was annoyed by the question. "I've already had to coach Serena, and she nearly broke every bone in my body from running into me more times than I can count. Now you want me to coach you too?"

Yuya pouted. "Pleeeeeeease?"

Wow, he sounded like Sora.

"Alright" she sighed, detaching herself from the heap so she could stand up "But if you run into me just one time, Yuto's going to have even more braindead people to babysit. That clear?"

Yuya stood up and took a mock bow. "Yes, of course, thy highness. Please, lead the way."


	5. Chapter 5

**Thank you again** **CorinnetheAnime** **for betaing this monster of a chapter.**

 **On a side note, this author knows nothing about plants. So I apologise to all you botanists out there if my plant facts are wrong.**

* * *

At the end of the day, they all piled back into the Land Rovers to make their way back downslope to the lodge. Once they hd returned, everyone changed out of their wet clothing and crowded round the table for dinner, which Ruri prepared at her own insistence.

Their ski day was considered by all to be a rousing success, with only one sour note in the form of a twisted ankle for Yuri. Late in the afternoon he had fallen wrong when a pair of kids who weren't looking where they were going cut him off. Crow had carried him back down the hill, much to his consternation, and when he told the story later he informed everyone that he had manfully borne up under the pain and walked the rest of the way down himself. He would have gotten away with it too, because Crow certainly didn't mind the white lie for the sake of Yuri's vanity, but Dennis had seen what happened and spilled the beans.

The resulting spat at the table made an otherwise pleasant dinner highly uncomfortable for everyone, and in the end only a thorough chastisement from Yuzu (backed up by the threat of a paper fan or two) calmed the two of them down enough to get back to the meal.

"Reiji called" Sawatari told the table, worried about another outbreak of flared tempers.

"What for?" Kurosaki asked "Something wrong with the dimensions?"

"No, nothing like that" Sawatari reassured them all "He just wanted to make sure we hadn't killed each other and check up on Reira."

"How about we call him back after dinner" Yuya suggested "How does that sound, Reira?"

Reira nodded silently with a small smile on his face as he ate his pasta.

With that announcement, Yuya took up the role of main speaker and steered the table conversation back to more pleasant subjects, skilfully negating the awkwardness of Yuri and Dennis' very public fight.

* * *

The next day was overcast and sleet or snow was predicted for the afternoon. Most of the group was reluctant to drive up the mountain with the promise of miserable weather looming over them. It didn't stop Sora or Crow, the two most devoted ski enthusiasts in the group, from hopping in one of the cars and going up anyway, but the rest of them chose to stay at safer elevations. Even Rin, who'd seemed to love yesterday by all accounts, decided to stay rather than get in more time on her snowboard.

The group lazed around in the lounge room on the first floor of the lodge, talking idly and enjoying each others' company. Yuri and Yuzu played a game of Scrabble that almost ended in a fistfight, prevented only by Gongenzaka's repeated cautions not to swear in front of Reira and an eventual physical intervention by Rin, who threatened to put them both in a corner if they couldn't behave.

As late morning faded into early afternoon, sandwiches were made and distributed and the enormous flat screen was flipped on so that Yuya, Kurosaki, Yuto and Gongenzaka could watch another duel championship, this one a tag team tournament in London. The instant the score flashed on the bottom of the screen, however, they discovered that their favourite team was losing by an absolutely ridiculous margin. A round of loud groans went up and they quickly gave in to the demands of the others to turn off the television because, in Serena's words:

"What's the point in watching duel monsters if we can't play it?"

At that comment, Sawatari quickly laid down the law that there would be no duelling on his mother's property because "Heartland". A small spat between the Xyz duellists and the Fusion duellists later and everyone agreed to Sawatari's terms.

Not long after giving up on the championship in disgust, it started to become apparent that they were getting restless. This manifested itself in the form of Yugo chasing random targets around the room with a sprig of mistletoe he had gotten from god-only-knew-where, attempting to corner them under it in the company of the most awkward match imaginable.

After a solid twenty minutes of this, during which time Kurosaki had only narrowly escaped being forced to french Gongenzaka, Rin apparently decided she'd had enough of her boyfriend's antics.

"Yugo, why don't you get your sketch pad and work on the improvements for your Duel Runner?" she suggested.

Yugo, temporarily distracted from tracking his latest prey in a manner Yuri would be impressed with, looked up at his girlfriend and pouted. "But Rin, I could do that anywhere! We're all together for once, you know! We should be doing something special!"

Yuya hmmmed and nodded. "He's got a point. We could sit around talking anywhere. We should do something that we could only do _here_ – take advantage of where we are, rather than wasting the time away."

Sawatari snorted and mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like: "Tell that to my parents."

"Why don't we go for a walk?" Ruri suggested cheerily.

"You know, that's not a bad idea" Rin nodded in agreement "Growing up in The City, Yugo and I didn't really get to walk in the country much."

"Yeah!" Serena piped up "Are there any good hiking trails around here, Sawatari?"

Gongenzaka stared at Serena, who was next to him on the sofa. "Weren't you saying five minutes ago how you never wanted to leave this sofa again because it's so comf-"

The rest of what he was saying was lost as Serena slammed her hand over Gongenzaka's mouth. When the she noticed she was being stared at, she attempted (badly) to turn it into a hug/wrestling move combo. It failed – she wasn't Sora, she couldn't get away with stuff like that and expect it to work.

"Oh-kay then" Yuya said, after shooting her a skeptical look.

Turning his gaze back to Sawatari, he repeated Serena's question.

Sawatari shrugged. "Yeah, there's a couple. Most of them are the starts of high-country hiking trails, not something you want to tackle in the winter at all, let alone with bad weather coming, but there's a few easy walking trails just upslope."

"Great!" Yuya grinned "Let's go there then."

* * *

The trail head was very nearby the Sawataris', only a half mile or so from the lodge and not very far beyond the boundary between their privately-owned land and the state-owned parkland. Since it was so close, they elected to walk rather than take one of the cars. The entire group ended up going, with the exception of Reira, who didn't facing going out in the deep snow, and Serena and Yuto, who agreed to stay behind with Reira, as well as the two who were off skiing. Even Yuri was coaxed into coming, despite his still sensitive ankle, but he insisted that he would be taking frequent steps if it got too sore.

"Aggravating even a minor injury can significantly impact one's physical health and agility down the line" he preached unnecessarily, as everyone present knew far too well how past injuries could affect their performance in a duel.

The trail was lovely, despite the ominously grey sky, quiet and surrounded by thick spruce and white pines. The snow on the trail was pristine and untouched, which, while beautiful, caused them more than a bit of difficulty. Sheltered by the dense forest, it wasn't quite as heavy on the ground as the snow in more open areas, but it was still over two feet deep. Wading through it was a challenge, especially for Yuri and Yuzu, who were the smallest of the group, although no one had a particularly easy time. Even Kurosaki, who was looking throughly miserable but put-together for the first time since the holiday began as he tried to avoid the snowballs Yugo and Ruri were throwing at each other, was having it tough.

After close to a mile of everyone slogging it along in knee-deep snow, Gongenzaka muttered: "We should've brought snow shoes for this."

"Snow shoes?" Yugo wrinkled his nose, dropping the snow ball, he was about to pelt at Ruri "You means snow boots? We're wearing snow boots, aren't we?"

He lifted up one of his feet and glanced at his snow boot, as though to assure himself he was indeed wearing it.

"Snow shoes are slightly different, Yugo" Rin reassured him "They allow people to walk on top of the snow, rather than sinking through it."

"Whoa, really?" This idea seemed to blow Yugo's mind "That's amazing! You're so smart, Rin!"

Rin just nodded along, clearly having heard the compliment many times before.

"I think snow shoes would be a good idea" Yuya suggested, having spent the past ten minutes helping the struggling Yuzu along the trail.

Before he could receive a reply, a slender arm hooked through his elbow. Yuya felt his heart flutter happily in his chest, expecting it to be Yuzu. When he glanced sideways and caught an eyeful of orange hair, he felt sinking disappointment.

"I agree with Yuya, I think snow shoes would be a fabulous idea!" Dennis declared.

Yuya didn't reply, both because he had nothing to say and because he kind of hoped if he ignored Dennis, he'd go away. He'd made it clear yesterday that he had no intention of joining in whatever game Dennis was playing and, besides, he could practically feel the daggers from Yuri's glare entering his back.

"Maybe I could make some snow shoes?" Ruri offered "All I need is a few sticks. Is that alright with you, Sawatari?"

Sawatari, who'd been unofficially leading the group, looked at her as if he was surprised someone was asking him permission to do something.

"Er…yeah, sure" he shrugged "Do whatever you want."

"Alright then!" Ruri clapped her hands together and turned to face the rest of the group "I just need a couple of branches to work with. If we all fan out in groups of two, then we should find them much faster. We'll all meet back here in twenty minutes, ok?"

"Does that mean I can stop floundering around in this crap?" Kurosaki asked, irritably.

"Shun, I told you, I don't like it when you swear" Ruri warned him, frowning disapprovingly.

Kurosaki apparently took that as a yes, as he perked up immediately. "Then hell yes!"

He quickly grabbed Ruri's hand and all but pulled her into the woods, apparently determined they would be one of the pairs.

Yugo apparently had the same mentality, as he grabbed Rin's hand and began pulling her in the opposite direction to which the Kurosakis went.

"I'm going to collect more sticks than everyone else!" They could hear his voice echoing as they left the trial.

Dennis' arm gripped Yuya's more tightly than before as his grin widened. "Well, I guess we're together, dear Yuya."

Yuya was about to forcibly remove Dennis' arm from his, when a sharp voice cut in.

"Oh I don't think so, you painted clown!"

Yuzu to the rescue. Yuya felt all of his muscles relax in relief.

Dennis abruptly threw both of his hands in the air, releasing Yuya, as if surrendering. "My dear Yuzu, I didn't realise you enjoyed my company so much."

Yuzu gritted her teeth. "I don't. Now get over here."

Dennis appeared to pout before taking a long sweeping bow, facing Yuya. "I apologise, dear Yuya, but I'm afraid this is the point when I must say adieu."

A vein pulsated in Yuzu's forehead and Yuya knew she was mad. "Move it, clown, or I'll rip your arms out of your sockets!"

Dennis made some sort of exclamation of shock before hurrying to her side, still waving back at Yuya as the pair of them traipsed into the woods off the trail.

"Well that was the just weird" Yuya remarked, turning to look for his other friend "Hey, Noburu?"

The only one still there was Sawatari, rocking back and forth on his heels. Gongenzaka and Yuri were missing.

"Did Yuri kill him or…" Yuya pondered.

"I think Gongenzaka took him away to prevent you from being stabbed" Sawatari informed him.

"Oh, okay" Yuya nodded, after all, there were much worse people to be partnered with than Sawatari "Want to collect some sticks then?"

Sawatari rubbed his eyes and yawned before saying: "Yeah, sure."

"Are you okay?" Yuya asked him as they too left the trail "You haven't been acting like yourself since we got here."

Sawatari shrugged. "Can't sleep, that's all. Too many memories."

"Bad memories?" Yuya inquired, concerned.

"Not really" Sawatari shook his head "It's just…this is the last place we were happy together. Before the divorce, I mean."

"Oh" Yuya instantly understood "Want to talk about it?"

Sawatari regard him like one might regard a fly that had just landed on the end of their nose. "Why would I want to talk to you about it? It's none of your business."

"Well, when my dad disappeared, and I had a difficult time dealing with it, Noburu would always get me to talk about it" Yuya explained "I can listen if you want."

Sawatari stared at him, expecting to see a mischievous glint in his eye or a mocking smirk on his face. But no, nothing but trust and honesty shone out at him.

Reassured now, a cocky smirk split across Sawatari's face and he looked so much more like himself than before that Yuya felt the need to smile.

"Well, Sakaki, you wanted to hear the memoirs and hardships in the life of the fabulous me? Well, the Neo New Super Sawatari Shingo never disappoints!"

Yuya laughed. "Alright, calm down. You'll give yourself a hernia."

* * *

"I think it would be best to collect the dry sticks" Dennis prattled on as he picked up sticks, leading Yuzu to the impression that the guy just loved the sound of his own voice. "I don't know about making snow shoes, but to make a fire you always have to collect the dry sticks."

Finally having enough, Yuzu stood up fully and turned to face him. "You know what, fine. I've had it. What are you doing?"

Dennis stared at her weirdly. "Why, my dear Yuzu, I'm doing as he lovely Ruri asked us. I'm making sure to gather only the finest branches for her-"

"No, I mean with Yuya" Yuzu cut him off, sick of his nonsensical crap, for there was no better word for it "Why are you flirting shamelessly with him?"

It was fascinating to watch Dennis' entire body visibly stiffen, locking in place. He stood, frozen, for a moment before straightening up and turning to face Yuzu.

"I don't know what you mean" he declared, voice strained and shrill, much too shrill to be believable.

Yuzu scoffed.

"Oh come on, Dennis" she shot back "You and I both know you've been hanging around him like a bad smell since you first got here. Why?"

It was a sign of Dennis' rigid Academia training that he unconsciously shifted his feet into a defensive stance when he felt threatened. "What's it to you?"

"Yuya's my boyfriend" Yuzu said fiercely.

Dennis seemed throughly unimpressed with that answer. In fact, he almost looked angry.

"So you get to dictate his every move?" he questioned her, suddenly bitter "That seems very selfish of you, Yuzu, to not allow Yuya the freedom to make his own decisions. He should be allowed to flirt with whoever he likes, if he wants to."

Yuzu's smart reply withered on her tongue, as his response was so far from anything she'd expected and hit far too close to home for her.

"I-I just want him to be happy" she choked out "That what all people want for the people they love."

The air immediately went out of Dennis' sails. A visible slump went into his shoulders as it appeared Yuzu had said something that affected him deeply.

"You love him" he mumbled.

Yuzu was offended at the idea Dennis presumed otherwise. "Of course I do! I'd do anything for him!"

Dennis went through various stages of colour in his cheeks – starting at white, then bright red, then back to white before taking on a more pinkish hue – before sitting down on a tree stump, placing his head in his hands. For a second, Yuzu thought he was crying.

"Don't go and pretend that I've hurt you!" Yuzu snapped "You take your head out of your hands before I pull it out, and start telling me why you've been flirting with Yuya when you know he's-"

"Your boyfriend" Dennis cut her off "I know – that's exactly why."

Yuzu blinked, not following him. "What?"

Dennis rocked back and forth a bit, taking some deep, rattling breaths before he finally decided to indulge her demands.

"When promising Academia students got moved up into the elites, you were taught one thing above all else: find someone. Someone as high up the ladder as you could find. Then cling to them like glue. Offer them advice, support, a shoulder to cry on. Yuri was easy. He was the Professor's Number Two, someone unapproachable if you valued your life and sanity. But if you saw past the fangs, you saw they were all for show. He was a vulnerable ten-year-old child with insecurities just like any other child and completely isolated, just waiting for someone to appreciate him and admire him just as he was. He was absolute putty to mould into someone of a strategic advantage for me rising through the ranks."

"So he was your mark?" Yuzu questioned, wondering how all this fitted in. Maybe Dennis was just distracting her with a wild story with no relevance to her question.

Dennis scoffed. "Way to make it sound like a bad thing."

"You were manipulating him" Yuzu flatly reminded him. She wasn't one to feel sorry for psychopathic killers, but Dennis wasn't doing Yuri any favours by encouraging his psychopathy either.

"And he made me regret it many times" Dennis went on "I didn't assess one thing when I went after him – just how quickly he falls in love. It's one thing to manipulate someone who you have no attachment to, but when they fall in love wth you…well, that's when things get complicated. He has what you over here would probably call an addictive personality; when he gets a taste of something, he wants more and more of it, right there, at least until the high winds down and transfers to something else. One taste of loyalty from another person and Yuri was hooked. He could be so loyal to those he loved but demanded absolute loyalty from them in return. The more loyalty he felt, the more he wanted. And I indulged him, kept him happy. It was easy – I had nothing and nobody else to be loyal to."

Finally, he looked up at Yuzu with a face full of scorn. "And then you and the Lancers just had to come in and ruin Christmas, didn't you?"

Yuzu knew what he meant by that. "We liberated the soldiers brainwashed by Leo Akaba's Academia. We made your dimension a better place."

"You put us through just as much hell as we did Kurosaki and his band of 'heroes'" Dennis shot right back "It's all well and fun to kill people with a smile on your face, when you've been told since you could walk that they were the scourge of the multiverse and in doing so you're paving the way for a new, better, united world. And then suddenly people storm in, claiming they're the new order – that everything you've done up until now was wrong and you're a monster because of it. At first you deny it, stick to what you know. But after it's been force fed down your throat enough, you have no choice but to accept it. And then what? Move on? Move on to what? You're left with nothing."

Yuzu gritted her teeth. She wasn't amused by the story. "I don't feel sorry for you."

"Don't except you to, but it's all relevant" Dennis explained "Some of us switched easily enough. Your friend Asuka, for instance. General Edo as well. I was also pretty quick, once it was all over. I guess I'd spent too much time outside of Fusion Dimension to do otherwise. Yuri, though, was the Professor's lap dog. He'd carded more people than entire legions combined. He'd seen only what the Professor wanted him to see. Change didn't come as easily to him. Even now he still treats the Kurosakis and Yuto like second-class citizens, even if he holds his tongue about it on the whole."

"I'm getting bored now, Dennis" Yuzu tried to hurry him up "It's getting dark."

"No wonder Yuya likes you so much – you're so impatient, like he is" Dennis almost laughed "Yuri still feels isolated – like everyone's moved on except for him. In times like that, you crave the loyalty of anyone you can get your hands on, to tell you that you're right and everyone else is wrong, even in the face of logic. So of course he came running to me."

"And you stroked his ego for him" Yuzu guessed.

"I told him to get his hands off me" Dennis corrected her, surprising her "I saw the world was moving on under a new rule, and I had to move on or be left behind in the dust. Yuri wasn't going to be changing drastically any time soon, so I had to drop the weight and move on myself." Now Yuzu swore he was about to cry. "He didn't want me coming here, you know. Kept on complaining about me running off with a bunch of Standard Scum and tagalongs. That I'd thrown away everything for nothing. I'd heard him say it before, but this time I just...snapped. I told him I didn't belong to him anymore. I could go anywhere I want, with whoever I want and do whatever I want, and he didn't get a damn say in the matter. Things just…degenerated from there, I guess. He probably only came along on the trip to put me through hell and argue with me some more. But I'd made my mind up – I had to get away from him or he was going to drown me in the current."

Yuzu was quiet. She didn't quite know what to say. She hadn't ever been in a situation where she felt she'd had to distance herself from a close friend to save herself.

"Suddenly I was…free" Dennis' voice went very quiet, like a child admitting their darkest secrets "I didn't know what to do. Someone had always been keeping an eye on me, watching my every move, often dictating it. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. And I suppose a part of me wanted to see how Yuri would react to seeing me stretching my wings a bit, testing the air, learning what it was like to act of my own accord. So I started on Yuya, seeing what I could get away with before someone tried to take control from me again. He was probably the least likely to be creeped out by any advances I made, and since he knew that I was aware you and he were dating, he'd assume anything I said or did to be a bit of harmless fun. He wouldn't see through it."

Yuzu tried to understand what he was saying, but it was hard. "So, this whole thing with Yuya had been to mess with Yuri for him being an ass to you? And to see what you could get away with before you got lynched?"

Dennis had to think before he responded. "Freedom is…the most amazing thing, Yuzu. There's nothing like it. But you can't know until it's been taken away from you for so long that you redefine it so you don't end up longing for something you can't have. Can you really blame me for trying my luck, seeing it's like to have no limits?"

"Of course I can, because you do have limits and knowingly flirting with someone else's boyfriend is beyond those limits" Yuzu told him flatly "If you're that desperate, find a bar. Find someone who's single. _That's_ how we define freedom here."

Dennis just stared at her, somewhere between flabbergasted and crushed. He didn't appear to have an answer to that.

"But I _can_ forgive you" Yuzu told him "For that at least. Though I expect you to tell Yuya all of this when we get back, and actually apologise to him."

Dennis appeared relieved, but Yuzu wasn't done.

"And one more thing" she added "Don't lie to me. If you wanted to mess with Yuri, you could've just kissed Yuya in front of him and watch his heart shatter as he ran away crying. But you didn't – you dangled it in front of him without letting him get a bite. You wanted revenge, yeah, I've been there with people I care about. But more importantly, you want him to see you enjoying your so-called freedom. You want him to see that and want that too, because you don't want to cut him off completely – you care about him."

Dennis still didn't say anything, which was unusual in itself. But this time his face remained blank, and Yuzu knew she'd hit him where it hurt.

"He loves you" Yuzu told him "Probably way more than you love him, and you turning your back on him is destroying him. So at some point, whether you do it here or when you disappear back off to Fusion, you're going to tell him exactly what you told me. And I don't care whether you never see him again after that, but if you leave him like he is now without giving your reasons, it'll kill him."

Dennis flinched and Yuzu was confident she'd made her point.

"It's okay to be hurt" she told him "You're going to get hurt a lot, working things out on your own. But, you have us now. If you ever need help, just…ask, you know. Don't take your pain out on us."

Yuzu wasn't quite sure what she'd said that caused Dennis' expression to brighten enormously, but it did. And before she knew what was happening, she found two arms wrapped around her in a fierce hug.

"I'm not going to say anything mushy" Dennis told her "Just know I'll leave your boy alone now."

"You better" Yuzu warned him "Because now you don't have any excuses."

Dennis pulled back away from her with a mock-pensive look on his face. "I guess I'll just have to move on to Yuto now, huh."

Yuzu laughed at the suggestion. "You want to mess with the Kurosakis, be my guest. But they won't be half as merciful as I was."

Ignoring Yuzu's jibe, Dennis bounced to his feet, wiping at his cheeks to erase the last evidence of his crying jag. He returned to fishing sticks from the clutches of he snow, now with a small smile on his face in place of the clownish smirk of before.

* * *

"Little tomato-haired freakshow. Needs a lesson on what's his…"

"You know, it was Dennis who was flirting with Yuya, not the other way around" Gongenzaka reminded his stick-collecting partner "I assure you, Yuya is happy and taken and would never flirt with another man, certain not whilst in a relationship."

Yuri glared at the much bigger boy with a face like thunder. "Don't you think I know that!"

"Then perhaps...can you stop threatening him unnecessarily" Gongenzaka requested "Your anger should be directed towards Dennis, not my friend."

Yuri muttered something under his breath that Gongenzaka didn't catch before bending down again to collect more sticks, holding each branch between his forefinger and thumb, as though he didn't want to get germs from it.

Gongenzaka had never really been afraid of Yuri. When you're six-feet-tall as weight as much as bull, those individuals who only reach about five foot never really scare you much, despite any reputations they may have. However, the frightful mood the younger boy was in had Gongenzaka afraid _for_ him, rather than of him.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

Yuri stared at him down the end of his nose. "It's a frigging dead piece of tree, I'm perfectly fine. It's just damn cold."

"No, I mean, are you alright?" Gongenzaka repeated "You seemed wounded."

"I'm not some animal, Standard Scum" Yuri retorted immediately, shrugging off any emotional help Gongenzaka had offered "And if I catch you insinuating such a thing again I'll feed you to my plants. Whole."

"I'm sure Dennis isn't acting as he is to hurt you on purpose" Gongenzaka tried being more direct.

Yuri flinched and Gongenzaka swore he saw Yuri's cheeks colour.

"Yes he is" Yuri told him "He's a sadistic bastard like that."

Gongenzaka paused, thinking what to say. "If you want…I could try teaching you to ski tomorrow? I'm not as good as Yuzu, but if you want company-"

"Why the hell would I want that?" Yuri snapped.

Gongenzaka shrugged, trying to act casual. "I just thought...you've looked very lonely since you arrived."

"I'm not lonely" Yuri scoffed "I'm just…pensive. Don't be an idiot in confusing them."

Gongenzaka let Yuri's hurt feelings settle before trying to help again. "You don't have to be lonely for the sake of your own pride. There are other people who care about you besides Dennis."

"If you're going to just stand there and babble on like a moron I'll do the job myself" Yuri shrugged the show of help off without a thought.

"You like plants, right?" Gongenzaka suggested a topic "What's your favourite type of plant?"

"Just shut up!" Yuri snapped.

"I quite like roses" Gongenzaka supplied "My mother used to grow them. I find them to be very graceful, with a beautiful hourglass figure-"

"That's a fricking tulip, you complete imbecile!" Yuri instantly turned around with a look of fury on his face "And it's a bell shape, not an hourglass. You're talking about a flower, not a damn dress."

Gongenzaka smiled, having got the result he wanted. He figured purposely getting plant knowledge wrong would prompt some kind of reaction from Yuri.

"Forgive me, I'm afraid my knowledge of plants is not up to par" he said "I would be interested to learn, though."

Yuri stared at Gongenzaka like he was mad. "You're _actually_ serious."

It was more of a statement than a question.

"I'm curious to know what your favourite plant is" Gongenzaka commented "Could you tell me a bit about it?"

Yuri's face scrunched up like he was considering it, before his shoulders appeared to sink in defeat. "It's called a Venus Flytrap. What were you expecting?"

"Your deck centres around Predator Plants, like Flytraps, yes?" Gongenzaka noted "My deck is a Samurai deck. And I very much love samurai. But I do find Ninjas to be more graceful."

Gongenzaka was confident Yuri understood what he meant, so he left the smaller boy to consider what he was saying. Yuri didn't have any outwardly emotional reaction, but it took him a long time to respond.

"You seriously want to stand there and listen to me explain why Morning Glory is superior to any other herbivorous plant?" Again, Gongenzaka couldn't tell if there was supposed to be a question mark there or not.

"Why not?" he pointed out "We're collecting branches. It's cold. Passes the time."

That's it, make it sound casual, then Yuri's won't suspect you're trying to help.

Yuri looked him over again, assessing that answer, before scoffing and bending down to look for branches again.

"They're intelligent plants" he explained "Most of them are boneheaded and don't get that they need sunlight to grow, so they're just wasting their time sitting open at night. Morning Glory closes their flowers up at night, so they don't take damage when they're just sitting about useless…"

Gongenzaka also went back on the stick hunt, a small smile on his face. Even if it was just listening to him spiel about flowers, Gongenzaka liked to think Yuri knew he had found someone new to confide in, so he didn't feel completely alone.

* * *

"There we go!" Ruri stood up on her new snow shoes, quite proud of her handiwork "I think these should do the trick."

Kurosaki was walking back and forth on his shoes, grinning proudly at his sister's accomplishment. Yuri, Dennis and Yuzu also seemed to be doing fine, even if Dennis had snapped one of his branches on his first try standing up.

 **Crunch!**

They all looked over at Gongenzaka. The heaviest of the group had stood up for the first time and instantly his shoes had snapped in half.

"Oops!" Ruri covered her mouth to prevent herself from laughing "Sorry Gongenzaka, I don't think the sticks we have are strong enough for you."

Gongenzaka waved her concern off. He was fine walking without snow shoes. He doubted they were going to work for someone his size anyway.

"We're just waiting for Yuya and Sawatari, right?" Dennis spoke up.

Yuzu glanced at her watch. "It's getting dark. At this rate we'll be heading back without them."

"There they are" Kurosaki pointed out into the woods.

Sure enough, within a few seconds, Yuya and Sawatari emerged from the woods.

"Hey guys, we brought the sticks!" Yuya waved to them all "Sorry we got back so late. A squirrel appeared right in Sawatari's face and he freaked out."

"It was a raccoon!" Sawatari insisted, which got Yuzu and Gongenzaka frowning because, as Standard natives, they were pretty sure raccoons didn't live in these parts.

"My pre-invasion research on this dimension didn't mention anything about raccoons living in snowy mountains" Dennis commented, probably just to stir up trouble rather than out of genuine curiosity.

"Shut up Dennis, no one cares" Sawatari turned his nose up at the Fusion resident.

"So where are Yugo and Rin?" Yuya asked "Are they not back yet?"

Gongenzaka looked horrified. "We completely forgot about them!"

Ruri looked into the woods frantically, searching for the missing duo with her eyes.

"Don't bother" Yuzu groaned "They probably went to make out. We better not go looking; unless you wanna see Yugo with his tongue down Rin's throat. Trust me, I've walked in on that before... it's not something you want to witness."

The rest of them visibly shuddered, and Dennis made gagging noises and aggressively mimed vomiting into the snow.

"Yeah, I can see your point" Yuya agreed "But we still better keep an eye out for them as we—what is he doing?"

Yuzu turned her head to see Sawatari striding over to Ruri with a confident swagger in his step. "Oh god, here we go."

"Ruri!" he greeted her "Have I ever mentioned you look beautiful with those earrings in?"

Ruri blushed and turned away, embarrassed at the sudden attention.

Instantly a large shadow appeared over Sawatari, accompanied with a pair of menacing yellow eyes.

"Oh come on! I just said she looked pretty!" Sawatari protested up at Kurosaki "She just got complimented by the Neo New Super Sawatari Shingo! That's the best thing that could ever happen to a girl!"

"Looks like he's back to his old ways. Too bad – Serena was so relieved because she thought he'd finally grown up" Yuzu commented, then looking over at Yuya "What did you say to him?"

"Not much" Yuya shrugged "I just used listened mostly. I think he just needed to feel like someone was listening to him – like someone cared."

Yuri frowned and looked back and forth between Yuya and Gongenzaka, eyes narrowing slightly more with every turn of his head. Finally he stomped away, muttering something about 'Standard Scum making me look weak with stupid plans'.

"Did I miss something?" Yuya asked, looking at Gongenzaka, confused.

Gongenzaka just smiled knowingly. "Did you know that Morning Glory is superior to any other herbivorous plant?"

"Er…no" Yuya blinked "Why? Is that important or something?"

Gongenzaka glanced after Yuri who, he noted, looked a little less miserable than before. "Not to you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you again** **CorinnetheAnime** **for betaing this final chapter for Skiing.**

* * *

"Seriously? How is someone _that_ bad at pool?"

Three seconds into this conversation and Serena was already wishing death upon Yuya Sakaki for returning Shingo Sawatari to his usual, despicable self.

"Well last I checked, Gongenzaka beat you too" Serena pointed out.

"Yeah, but you're, like, great at everything" Sawatari insisted and Serena wished the top of the stairs would come sooner "You're brilliant at duelling – of course, not as good as the champion that is the Neo New Super Sawatari Shingo. But I guess I expected you to be good at everything. I mean, pool? It's just hitting a ball."

Serena wasn't entirely sure if he was complimenting her or insulting her.

"My room's here, Sawatari" she told him upon reaching the top of the stairs "I'm going to bed now."

"Oh, of course!" Sawatari grinned "Get lots of sleep so we can hit the slopes tomorrow. Don't think I'll go easy on you this time though!"

"Of course not" she grimaced, pushing the door open "Goodnight, Sawatari."

She quickly pushed through the doorway and slammed the door behind her before he could respond.

"Oh thank god!" she groaned, leaning against the door "I was just getting used to him acting like an adult!"

Yuri, the room's other occupant, was sat on his bed reading a book, this one in German rather than Cyrillic. His only contribution to the conversation Serena had started was a quiet: "Uh-hmm…"

"I mean, really, why did Yuya think he was better off like this?" Serena whined "Would it have killed him to—what is that?"

Yuri glanced up from his book to see what she'd reacted to. She was staring at the small potted plant that was now occupying their windowsill.

"I don't know" he informed her "I've yet to identify it. I believe it may be a Standard-only alpine plant."

"Why is it here?" Serena had to ask.

"I found it outside in a bedraggled state" Yuri explained "I guess this retreat is a prefect habitat for such plants during the summer months."

"So we have a pet plant because you felt sorry for it" Serena remarked in a deadpan tone "Is that what you're telling me? God, you've changed."

Yuri didn't seem bothered. "It's a plant, not a human being. It doesn't deserve to suffer."

"And you're not mocking me!" Serena was a little weirded out now "What's with that? Do I have to call Dennis in here to put a stick back up there again, because I can't take you acting like a…normal human having…normal emotions and stuff."

Yuri winced at the mention of Dennis' name, which Serena expected, but she also expected him to blow up at her afterwards, which he didn't.

"A couple of those Standard Scum got together outside and tried to trick me" he told her, randomly.

Serena raised an eyebrow. "And they're still alive?"

"They were trying to 'cheer me up'" Yuri added "Tried to get me to talk about my problems."

"And it worked?" Serena was astonished at the turn this conversation seemed to be taking. It was unlike any conversation she'd ever had with Yuri before. "You actually felt happy about something other than making other people suffer?"

"Of course not" Yuri scoffed "I just feel less like killing them than usual."

The room went silent.

"You really are happy" Serena realised "Oh my god. Oh my god!"

Yuri looked up at her with a scowl. "Stop doing that. You sound like a broken record."

"And you're back" her shoulders slumped "It's okay that you're changing, you know. Great, actually. Weird as hell…but great."

"I still want to press my boot down on that Birdbrain's skull" Yuri informed her.

A sweatdrop ran down that back of Serena's head. "Baby steps. We're getting there."

Both turned their heads at the sound of the door opening and Serena was preparing a series of words to call Sawatari for not being able to take a hint when she saw orange hair.

"Looks like you two are getting along nicely" Dennis commented with that silly grin on his face that may've meant he was mocking them.

"Oh hell no!" Serena matched over to the door and tried to close it on him, but Dennis fought back "You've caused enough trouble! Get the hell out of my room!"

"You can put your fangs away, dear Serena, I'm not here to fight" Dennis told her "I have an apology to make."

Serena was so stunned that Dennis was claiming that he was prepared to actually _apologise_ for one of his actions that she forgot to keep pushing the door, allowing Dennis to push it open and barge past her.

"Yuri-"

"Don't talk to him!" Serena cut him off "Haven't you messed with him enough? He doesn't want to hear it!"

"I can fight my own battles, thank you, Serena" Yuri stood up from his bed, closing his book, with a sigh. Pointedly, he didn't look Dennis in the eye. "You can leave, Dennis. I don't need any pathetic apologises."

"Yuri…" Dennis paused, looking like he was struggling to know what to say "You…feel I've abandoned you, right?"

Yuri scoffed. "Well clearly you're a certified genius. You couldn't have just left things as they were!"

"You have no idea how much I wish I could" Dennis told him with a sad smile "But the world wants us to change."

"Well then screw the world then!"

Dennis laughed. "God there are times I hate myself so much for wanting you to change, even a little bit."

Yuri looked flabbergasted, unable to say anything, so instead his face just took on a reddish hue.

Serena just stopped her jaw from dropping. Yuri was…blushing?

"But I am changing" Dennis continued, more solemnly "And I don't expect you to like it, or appreciate it. I just…" He looked pained as he tried to find a way to put his thoughts into words. "Our friendship meant… _does_ mean a lot to me. It has, for a long time. And I don't want to lose that."

Yuri didn't appear to react at all. Dennis swallowed – clearly he'd expected _something_.

"I don't want to lose _you_ " he specified "And I don't think you want to lose me either."

Yuri scoffed. "Well no shit Sherlock, or did you forget what the disagreement was about in the first place?"

" _That_ was about me wanting independence" Dennis reminded him, and instantly Yuri frowned in disapproval "You hate the idea, I know. It's different and you don't like change. But I went about it the wrong way too. I thought it was a case of preserving my new values against our friendship. It might seem selfish and, let's face it, you've always admired my ability to be selfish."

A tiny smile fluttered across Yuri's face for a few milliseconds before being swallowed by the frown again.

"But I hope we can find some way so I can have both" Dennis finished with "Because I've missed you, Yuri. More than I thought I would."

Yuri said nothing for a good half a minute, probably trying to process this completely unexpected confession, leaving Dennis to sweat nervously and Serena to look between the two boys, wondering if she'd need to step in.

"I…" Yuri's voice was all but a mumble as he spoke "I may have missed you too, you prize clown."

Dennis face broke into a genuine grin, which reassured Serena that there would be no blood or tears like in their argument before they left Fusion.

"…Serena?"

Serena jumped and peered down to see Reira in the doorway, clutching his teddy bear nervously.

"Hey Reira!" she planted a friendly grin on her face to address the small boy "What's wrong? Did Sora say a bad word?"

Reira shook his head. "Rin said she was going to make hot chocolate."

"For everyone?" Serena asked. She wasn't sure her stomach could take any hot chocolate after another enormous Ruri-made meal. That girl may be a Disney princess, but she needed to learn what proportions for food were.

Reira shook his head. "Just me. But I can't find her."

"Is she not in her room?" Serena asked, receiving another head shake "It's funny, I don't remember seeing her at dinner, either." Her eyes grew round with horror at the dawning realisation. "Shi-er…Shoot, Yugo wasn't there either! Did they even come back after the walk? It's been, like, three hours! Even Sora and Crow are back!"

She addressed Reira again. "Reira, sweetie, I need you to tell Yuya and Yuzu that Rin and Yugo aren't back yet. We'll go and find them, ok?"

Reira nodded determinedly and ran off, probably thinking he was on a life-saving rescue mission.

Serena herself turned and grabbed Dennis' arm, dragging him towards the door.

"Whoa! What! Hey!" Dennis protested.

"Yugo and Rin are still missing" she informed him "And I'm not going looking for them along with Lovebirds 1 and 2. Besides," she looked over at Yuri, who appeared to be staring into space. "I think your boyfriend needs to manually reboot his brain after that spiel of yours. I'm sure you can harass him again later."

"Alright, fine, fine!" Dennis finally shook her death grip off "Just gimme a sec!"

He walked back over to Yuri, who snapped out of his little daydream as the other boy approached.

"Just, think about what I said, alright?" he requested "Now I'm going on a scavenger hunt for a pair of Synchro Idiots. Yippity-doo-da. See you later, ok?"

To Serena unending astonishment, Dennis abruptly kissed Yuri on the cheek before strolling out of the room as if nothing had even happened, leaving _her_ wondering what the hell just happened.

Yuri would always deny that he melted into a little puddle of goo at that small show of affection. But Serena would always be there to remind him that yes, he did, and she had to pry him off the floor with a spatula.

* * *

In the end, a search party of ten was grouped together.

Sawatari and Sora would head to search the avalanche chute over the next ridge from where they all split up in case Yugo and Rin went there.

Gongenzaka and Crow would head to town.

Serena and Dennis would search the woods downslope.

Kurosaki and Yuto would remain at the spot at which the group split up in case the pair returned there.

And lastly Yuya and Yuzu would continue up the trail from the point everyone split up in case they had gotten lost whilst trying to return to the lodge.

Ruri and Yuri agree to say behind at the lodge in case Rin and Yugo tried to find their way back there instead.

Every group had at least one mobile phone so they could let everyone know when (or if, but nobody wanted to think about that) they found the lovers.

The search was mostly silent, with the exception of the echoing shout of their friends' names. But once they reached the trail head, Yuya made a decision.

"If we don't find them in the next few minutes, I'm going to try and Synchronise with Yugo. I don't know what range it has, but if it works, that way I'll see what he's seeing and we may be able to track them down from that."

"Good idea" Yuzu nodded "But if you get a close up of Rin's breasts, remember, it was your idea."

Yuya groaned and slumped his shoulders. "I wouldn't be the first time, believe me."

"When was this?" Yuzu frowned, the past week having made her stupidly paranoid.

"When they were staying at your house that one time" Yuya informed her, looking increasingly horrified as the memories obviously came crawling back "My house is right next door so I guess I was within range. And Yugo was…excited so he didn't notice we were Synchronised and-oh god!" He threw his hands over his eyes. "That traumatised me so badly!"

Yuzu found herself laughing despite herself.

They kept walking a little way into the forest, taking note of markers to help them navigate back to the trail when they were done. With nothing to do or discuss, Yuzu decided to tell Yuya what she had discussed with Dennis today.

"I talked to Dennis" she told him, getting his attention immediately.

"Did you scare him off?" he asked.

"He said he was going to leave you alone now" Yuzu informed him "I think he sorted himself out."

"That's good – I didn't think you'd be up for shared custody" Yuya joked.

"Oh hell no!" Yuzu declared "If he wants to be your friend, be my guest. But those lips are mine!"

Yuya nearly got stitches from laughing so hard at that statement.

"S-So!" he tried to calm him down "Did he say why he did it?"

Yuzu paused to think how to paraphrase the entire life story that she'd gotten earlier. "He fell in love with the idea of being independent. But then he realised being independent meant being alone and it scared him into not liking it much anymore."

"Oh" Yuya clearly wasn't expecting that answer.

"That and I think he was trying to make Yuri jealous" she added "Or independent through jealously. I dunno. I don't think he thought it out much."

Before Yuya could reply, they were both startled as Yugo came crashing out of the undergrowth with a loud holler, stopping between them and throwing an arm around each of their necks, nearly strangling them both in his enthusiasm.

"Finally! We thought you weren't coming!" Yugo cheered "We tried to get back to the lodge, but I think we got lost. So we decided to wait it out. I knew you'd come and find us! I told her!"

"Well duh! Of course we were going to look for you! No one's seen you for more than four hours!" Yuzu was seriously on the verge of whipping out a fan at them for making her worry so much.

"Yeah, we were worried!" Yuya insisted "And where's Rin?"

"I'm right here" Rin announced, appearing from the bushes in a much more becoming manner than her boyfriend. Her coat was askew, her scarf hanging over only one shoulder and twigs were decorating her hair, which Yuya couldn't help but think made her look more like a tree than usual. Her bedraggled state made a vein pulse in Yuzu's forehead as her anger cranked up a notch, realising what Yugo and Rin had been doing back there.

"Outside?" she stated with a high level of irritation and a fair amount of disappointment "Are you serious? Wouldn't that be really uncomfortable at this time of year?"

Rin blushed deeply, burying her face in her coat's collar, whilst Yugo rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"No, we were kept very warm" Rin told her.

Yuzu groaned.

Yuya looked back and forth between Yuzu and the couple, until suddenly his face morphed into an expression of disgust as he worked it out as well.

"Oh god no!" he looked ready to puke "Not again! You always do this when you come to this dimension! Why! Why do you keep doing this to me!" He buried his face in his hands. "I'm sick of you and your…canoodling!"

Yugo did look suitably embarrassed. "Sorry."

Yuzu decided the conversation out in the cold had gone on long enough. "Well, if you're quite finished…canoodling, we should head back. It's freezing and everyone's out there searching for you."

"I'll call everyone" Yuya offered, heading back to the trail to get a better signal.

Yuzu eyed Yugo and Rin for a moment, taking note of the fact they still seemed too embarrassed to talk to her. With a scoff of disappointment, she turned on her heel after Yuya, knowing they would follow her.

"I told you they'd be mad" she heard Rin whisper to Yugo as they trudged through the snow back to the trail.

"She's nowhere near as scary as you when you're mad" Yugo replied, which Yuzu could only guess was some form of flirting.

Rin actually giggled. Clearly flirting in Synchro was a whole different ball game to flirting in Standard. It made sense – Synchro was no stranger to aggression winning out over niceties.

"Oi, no flirting!" Yuzu commanding, shooting a glare over her shoulder at the couple "I expect all clothes to remain on until we get back to civilisation…INCLUDING YOUR SHOES!"

* * *

Everyone went to bed late and grouchy that night, so everyone woke up late and grouchy the next morning. Not the best way to start their last full day at the lodge since they planned to start the car journey back to Maiami City late the next day.

Despite the bad start, breakfast that morning started out sluggish and ended in a celebration.

It had all started with Rin and Yugo being unusually affectionate. They all knew to expect the holding hands under the table and the little cheek kisses from Yugo, but this morning Rin was being just as cuddly rather than trying to curb his affections. Needless to say, after spending most of the evening hiking across the mountain in freezing temperature due to the couple's affection for each other, everyone was not at all pleased to see that they now seemed incapable of keeping their hands off of each other.

After the third time Rin grabbed Yugo's rear end when they passed each other in the kitchen doorway, Yuri finally snapped.

"Do you mind!" he all but growled, making the pair jump "Some of us are trying to eat!"

Serena muttered something to Dennis about thanking him for putting the stick back because he's clearly back to normal. Whatever she meant, it made Dennis cackle with laughter.

Rin tried to looked apologetic, but she was still grinning.

"I'm sorry, Yuri. I guess we just can't help it today" she apologised, then looked at Yugo with excitement, the pair exchanging a knowing smile "Should we tell them?"

Yugo needed no more encouragement. "Rin agreed to marry me!"

The room, that had previously be filled with quiet morning chatter, went deadly silent. The words Yugo had just spoken just wouldn't compute in their brains.

"What" Sawatari's tone was so flat it would simply be a crime to put a question mark there.

Rin beamed and removed her left glove (obviously being used to maintain the secrecy, since she had no reason to be wearing them inside) to reveal a small silver ring on her fourth finger. Upon seeing it, Crow instantly covered his ears, Kurosaki taking note and doing so as well, earning confused glances from the rest of them.

Crow's precautions were well-founded, as the instant his hands hit his ears, a small chorus of excited shrieks went up from the remaining girls as they threw themselves at Rin, all attempting to hug her at the same time. Even Serena excitedly threw an arm around Rin's neck, giggling and congratulating her. The other boys immediately moved to copy Crow and Kurosaki. Reira though got up from his seat and hurried over to see the ring as he had never seen a wedding ring up close before.

After the initial fever had died down and Yuzu had finished interrogating Yugo about the fact the ring was silver 'Why silver? Didn't Rin deserve a gold ring with a big diamond, huh?', the boys deemed it safe to finally remove their hands from their ears.

"Congratulations" Gongenzaka was the first boy to say so, albeit once he was sure Yugo would be able to hear him without repeated iterations "When did this happen?"

"Yesterday!" Yugo was grinning like he'd won the Friendship Cup "I'd been planning to ask Rin for a while, but I just kept putting it off."

"Why?" Yuto asked "Scared she would say no?"

"Of course I knew she would say yes!" Yugo insisted, but his flushed face told them otherwise "But while you guys were playing pick-up-sticks, I got Rin alone and just…it was all perfect. We were up on this ridge with the snow and forest and the mountains…and I just popped the question."

"I said yes, of course" Rin added, as if they hadn't guessed that already "And that's basically it."

"And then you spent three hours canoodling in the woods" Yuya grumbled, still somewhat salty from all those unexpected and unwanted Synchronisations during Yugo and Rin's visits to Standard, or his visits to Synchro, that had gave him far more insight into what the pair got up to in their free time than he'd ever wanted to know.

Dennis mouthed 'canoodling' to Ruri, who shrugged in confusion. A similar exchange went on between Kurosaki and Yuto whilst Yuri rolled his eyes in disgust.

"How does he find the stamina?" Sora questioned, staring at Yugo empirically.

"He has to work off all the food he eats somehow" Rin answered easily.

Everyone groaned, a few tongues being stuck out in disgust and Kurosaki seriously debating running to the bathroom to throw up.

"And now you get my pain!" Yuya threw both hands in the air.

"Rin, come on, there's a child here!" Yuzu protested.

"I'm sorry, I meant it rhetorically!" Sora apologised and breakfast ended with most of the group wishing they hadn't eaten, but deciding that throwing it all back up would probably disappoint Ruri and no one wanted that shame upon their heads.

* * *

It was decided they would go skiing again today, but their late start led to everyone agreeing to an early lunch before they hit the slopes, so they had a few hours to chill in the living room before they set out.

It was bright and warm in the longue, sun pouring through the windows and the fireplace heating the lodge to everyone's satisfaction. The television was on yet another Duel Championship, but this time everyone's favourite was winning and the room was in high spirits.

Yuzu looked around the room from her position on the sofa. Yugo and Rin were curled up together in an armchair, exchanging kisses. Every time they got close to making out, Crow, who was sat at the base of their armchair doing a jigsaw puzzle with Reira, would cough loudly on everyone's behalf to remind the couple that they had an audience. Sawatari, Sora and Ruri were sat on the other sofa, trading snowboarding tips whilst Kurosaki flicked his eyes between the group on the sofa and the television from his position on the other arm chair. Yuto was sat on the floor with Serena and Gongenzaka near the television, explaining to them the ins and outs of this particular championship – telling them who the reigning champion was and why his favourite was _definitely_ going to win this year. Dennis and Yuri were sitting on the sofa to her right, Dennis alternating between watching the championship as well and poking Yuri in the most irritating places he could think of. Yuri, who was once again reading, kept trying to swat him off, but never yelling at him, which told Yuzu they must had made up after their terrible week. Yuya was sat on her left, pressed up against her, mostly due to the lack of room on the sofa, and holding her hand lazily.

This is what Yuzu thought of when she thought of the holidays.

It was a perfect morning.

"This is our family, huh?" she commented to Yuya.

"Yep" he replied "Our chaotic, nutty family."

"Would you trade them?" she asked.

"Nope" he shook his head "Although an increase in pretty girls wouldn't hurt."

Knowing he was teasing her, she slapped him on the arm.

He brushed a lock of hair behind her ear with his free hand. "I love you."

Yuzu mock-shrugged "I know the feeling."

"Ewww! Not you too! Get a room! One set of lovebirds is enough already!"

Yuzu decided to put off kissing Yuya until _after_ she killed Sora. She was sure Yuya would understand.

* * *

 **And that's it! If you read the header then you'll know this will be the last chapter for Skiing. I originally had seven chapters planned, but after accidently walking into the 5D's fandom and spending a good two weeks finding my way out, I sorta lost motivation, so I decided to end it with this. When Shakespeare finished his plays with a marriage, everyone's always happy, right?**

 **Although this may be the end of Skiing, I do have other projects in the works, including a comedy featuring the residents of everyone's favourite war-torn dimension. So sit tight, I'll be back soon, and thank you to everyone who read and reviewed Skiing! (ie. the laziest titled story ever)**


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